


A Siren tale

by ink_quill_pen



Category: Ao no Exorcist | Blue Exorcist
Genre: Blood and Gore, Cannibalism, M/M, Nomith, Ripping throats, chomp - Freeform
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-09-27
Updated: 2020-11-08
Packaged: 2021-03-08 01:55:37
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 10
Words: 40,070
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26687779
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ink_quill_pen/pseuds/ink_quill_pen
Summary: Buried amongst the sand and calm waves, a story of heartache betrayal, and love. The story of a younger siren who lost everything only to become the strongest of them all. Rin Okumura the silver siren.
Relationships: Okumura Rin/Mephisto Pheles
Comments: 3
Kudos: 24





	1. Chapter 1

Sirens and Mermaids, commonly interchangeable by a few mythologies, but in fact two completely different species, Mers also known as mermaids and mermen were the protectors of the world. one is capable of connecting to the very fabrics of the known and unknown world, mating peace, and prosperity within the planet. Naturally, this meant there were limits to all of Mers' powers.

The other, a dangerous species born of unnatural and unbalanced connections to the world, but their very nature was waved into the very existence of the universe, the ultimate predators, Sirens were truly mystical beings capable of wondrous feats of magic no Mer could ever dream of. But all of this came at a cost, they were natural preadatoristic, which lead to their kind being feared and when something is feared by humankind it is quickly demolished.

Siren hunting was a rather profitable cost for only the most daring and strong of souls, protecting the sailors of the world with only their bare hands and goodwill, or so they were supposed to be, but the hunters were known for this malpractice and illegal dealing within the dark market.

The six united kingdoms of the world decided to allow the hunting of sirens as sirens were known for their brutal attacks on ships and violent behavior, but there were laws set in place, laws enforced by the kingdoms.

Hunting or harming a mermaiden or merman was especially illegal and one of the greatest taboos, among this was also the rule of fair treatment, if a siren was not acting violently then the hunters were not allowed to hunt them.

The hunters were to respect nature and nature was to respect them but with the all to familiar greed and lust of humans, they quickly took advantage of the loose rules and began to malpractice. This was all discovered when one day they attacked the fairest mermaid of them all.

Yuri Egin, tail an emerald green in hue, and long chestnut wavy hair that always seemed to flow softly as the sea breeze against a soft pale beach did so freely. She was rumored to be the most beautiful creature in existence, capturing the hearts of many mers, and humans alike. But one day she washed upon the shore, tail fin cut and bleeding from a savage attack from siren hunters.

The young prince Shiro, next in line for the throne was infuriated at the sight of the injured beauty of the mermaiden and halted the hunters in their tracks, he was able to quickly dismiss every single one of them from duty and he quickly got their ship rebuked and destroyed, this was infuriating for the hunters but it shone a light on the malpractices of the hunters.

The six kingdoms became infuriated at the cruel truth of the hunters, they quickly outlawed the entire practice and arrested all those who broke the codes they had set in place. At the time this action seemed to work, but it would soon lead to a disaster.

But for the meantime Shiro took care of the beautiful maiden, gaining her affection for his diligent and delicate care. She remembered him and his name even after she had returned to the cerulean sea, her feelings lingered on for the man but her heart was also soon captured by the siren god who also was entranced by the maiden.

Having no other opinion for a mate, she became his queen and ruled amongst him and his loyal siren kings that had reminded adamant on their thrones all across the sea. Having a Mer as a queen united the kingdoms of the Mers and sirens, who had long been in a deadly feud.

It was long rumored that Sirens could not, nor did they want to love, but the bond between the queen and king was one truly out of a storybook. The king treated her with the utmost respect and grace any being could, and many romanticized the love the two shared and wished the same love for themselves.

The king of all sirens set the precedent that one was to love their mates with all they had for then if they were to pass on a part of them would lingerie on with their dearly beloved. The sirens of the kingdom craved this idea of immortal love so they hung onto it. Often mates were no more than a thing you used, but Yuri changed all of that.

As a result, the resulting pupping season was far more plentiful than ever before, because a mate you truly admired you kept around and built a life with. It was odd but beautiful how love could change so much.

The kingdoms of the mers and sirens were finally at peace, at least they were. One night when the waters were calm and crisp as the winter winds were setting in over the northern hemisphere. The royal couple was sleeping soundly in their chambers, dreaming away, wishing for an heir to inherit the throne.

The royals plans were cut short as three sirens attacked the king in his sleep, the first ripping through the sensitive flesh of the tail fin that was so imperative to swimming, another attacked his gills keeping him from breathing, and the either went straight for his heart.

Satan didn't have time to stir from his rest or even defend himself, but Yuri was stirred by the scent of blood, she was horrified to find the sirens tearing her mate to shreds. Yuri was no match for the three of them, so she felt, rushing out of the palace as quickly as she could, she happened to stumble across Astaroth who was staying at the castle, for the time being, she explained in horrifying detail what she had seen and the guards rushed to apprehend the treasonous sirens, but the sirens had managed to evade capture.

Astaroth was able to delay them, but Yuri had to leave the castle, and so she did, fleeing back to the man she still had lingering feelings for. She used what little magical reserve she had left to exchange her fin for legs. But with the loss of the king and their queen the siren civilization was open to attack which on the brink of midnight did occur, thousands of innocent sirens were ripped from their homes and dragged to the surface never to be seen by their families again.

In the meantime Yuri went to Shiro for help, he kept her safe but had no way of tracking the hunters or the sirens who went after Satan. So Yuri stayed away from the water, staying on land with Shiro, for that night, that horrific night had haunted her for years to follow. But Shiro always made sure to stay by her side.

Soon the old feelings had returned tenfold and the two were wed, staying by her husband's side at all times Yuri had also learned how to operate some of the finest weapons the six kingdoms had to offer. All hope seemed to return for the queen as she quickly became pregnant with twins.

But on the night of the joyful news she received a prophecy from her old mate, the elder twin was going to from the god, he would inherit all of the powers the god once healed, but this boy would not be the god reincarnated, he was to be a sperate being in that he was a new soul. Tragedy was to befall this boy in many forms, but he was to survive, becoming the strongest siren known to live. Satan was unable to finish his message as Yuri was awoken early.

Yuri was saddened at the fact that her child would have to suffer, but hopeful at the idea of him becoming strong. Maybe he was the one that would restore peace between worlds... The four months of incubation came quickly and Yuri quickly had her firstborn, he was still a mere egg; yet, by this point, his destiny had already begun.

Sadly for Yuri, she still had another five months with her second child as it was entirely human. Three days before the human was to be born the siren pup emerged from his eggshell that was kept safely underwater. The first thing he viewed was his mother who was patiently waiting for her examination.

Medicine was at its prime as mers and humans were able to access the necessary technology without tearing through the planet. But they still had a few outdated methods of travel, but it was all in the name of peace. Mers and Humans had agreed to preserve this planet as long as possible as the sirens searched for a way to explore the galaxies beyond this world that encaged them.

After all, Sirens were not inherently tied to this world as the humans and mers were.

Still, they were surprised by the early emergence of the siren pup and quickly got to tend to the newborn, making sure to keep him nearby damp or watery areas. Sirens could breathe out of the water but they needed water to be nearby to breathe properly, Mers did not have this same set back though which in a way made it easier for them to travel across the continents.

After caring for and feeding the delicate being quickly fell into a peaceful slumber. He had a bright glimmering tail seemingly crafted out of a powered cobalt blue. He had soft white hair that seemed to shine amongst the refracting light against the water. The small mer was truly stunning, both aesthetically appealing and he also seemed to have a sturdy structure of a siren, but with a thinner build than most sirens.

Shiro was ecstatic to see the siren pup, Yuri had made sure to warn him of her vision and he understood, still the idea of seeing a baby siren was fascinating to him. Shiro had never nor did he think he would ever witness a baby siren. They were by far the rarest creature to witness. Most sirens kept their children hidden within their nests which were heavily guarded, and if a baby was outside a nest then it was quickly put back in. Sirens didn't start hunting until they turned six and even still they stayed close to the nest.

On top of that Sirens were hard to find as it was. Sailors would often mark where siren nests were common so they didn't stumble across a siren family with pups. These families were by far more dangerous than anything in the ocean, and it was a truly horrible way to die, being torn to shreds as all your crewmates either stared in horror or scrambled to try and save you.

The combined factors of the rarity of the sirens and the dangerous nature of sirens within themselves are what led to the king's jubilation.

"Ahh! Yuri, he is so small," Shiro cooed softly, leading the queen to giggle softly.

"Yes Shiro babies are small," Yuri added with a small smile.

"But he looks so squishy," Shiro added happily.

"Babies have a lot of fat on them when they are born, it helps them store energy as they grow," Yuri explained, giggling softly at her husband's infatuation with the small siren. "Do you want to hold him?"

"Can I?" Shiro asked in awe, kneeling next to the tank in which the baby was being kept.

"When he wakes up, yes, you might get to feed him as well," Yuri said softly, leading to her husband lighting up in joy. That is, before his anxiety set in.

"Yuri what if I drop him?!" Shiro asked in horror as his worst fears played in his mind.

"Shiro remember when you were sixteen and you were scared of dropping your crown?" Yuri asked simply.

"Yes,"

"Why are you no longer afraid of dropping your crown?"

"Because I have learned how to handle it in a way in which I will not drop it,"

"So just hold him gently and be careful, train yourself to hold him and three should be no problems,"

"See this is why I married you, you are beautiful and smart,"

"Why thank you dear," Yuri cooed in response.

"Of course love," Shiro purred happily in response walking over to his wife.

At the soft voice of his mother and addition of the cheery Shiro, the small siren was stirred awake. The pup's small little eyes peeped open as he peered around his tank in confusion, he could have sworn he had a mother somewhere. Except she was nowhere to be found, all he could see was white outside his tank! He began to cry for his mother, calling out for her in panic.

Yuri was bedridden and simply whined softly as her baby cried for her. She simply resulted to humming softly to the baby to try and soothe the pup, but that only made the baby cry louder for his mother in which he loved so dearly.

Shiro decided to act, quickly slipping the small siren up in his arms. He made sure to secure the tail as well as the small torso, as he carried the baby to his mother.

The wailing was quickly cut short as Rin began violently squirming trying to swim to his mother, only problem is, you can't swim in the air, so Shiro had to keep a tight grip on the small siren as he handed him to his mother. Surprisingly Shiro was able to safely accomplish the handover, most would have lost control over the baby.

But at last, Rin was reunited safely with his caregiver. The baby was beyond happy to see the face of his mother again, so he began chirping in jubilation as Yuri continued humming to ease the small thing. The small scene was adorable to the king who had never witnessed something so precious before.

"So how long is it safe to keep him out of the tank?" Shiro asked, sitting down next to his wife.

"Well we are close enough to the ocean that we could keep him out for as long as possible, but just to be safe let's not keep him out for more than an hour, after all, we wouldn't want his little scales to dry up," Yuri said brushing her soft fingers along the skinny tail of the siren who chirped softly in response to the stimulation.

"So what are we going to do when he gets older?" Shiro asked, gazing down at the small being.

"Well, I will start teaching how to hunt when he turns three and then I will teach him how to survive in the ocean when he turns six. Once he turns thirteen then he should do just fine on his own. I was thinking we could let him go hunting with one of our ships. Then once he turns sixteen he can either choose to stay or venture out into the ocean," Yuri explained.

"Why sixteen?" Shiro asked. "Shouldn't we wait until he is an adult at 18?"

"Shiro, Sirens are fully grown at age sixteen, though some of their fins don't fully set in until age twenty, besides that, they are not going to get any bigger. Sirens are built to have short adolescents, they are natural-born predators so they evolved to have very short life spans in which they are vulnerable. As you have seen even as a baby they can fare better in the wild than a mer or a human child," Yuri explained.

"But still sixteen seems so young to be all alone,"

"It is rather young, but it is the way of the sirens. They are a different species than Mers after all,"

Over the passing few days, Yuri delivered the human boy and cared for her babies with all the love she could. She had always wished for children so she treated each of them as a blessing, making sure to spread her love and attentiveness over each one of them equally, Shiro followed the same path as his wife, loving both of his sons. Though Rin may be a siren, he was still Shiro's son in the king's eyes.

Though they had to keep the siren a secrete from the other kingdoms, for if word to get out there feared those who harmed the siren king would come for his heir. Sadly the happy couple won't even get a year with their children as word slipped out about the siren and the wick was quickly lit and the fire overtook the kingdom.

It was a calm evening when the first of the attacks began, at first it seemed only to be a simple raid attempt, but fire after fire, destruction came swiftly for the kingdom.

Shiro was woken by his hectic wife who quickly senses the danger approaching. Shiro flung to action. He quickly armed the guards for the ready, and Yuri got her babies and kept them close to her heart, whispering a soft lullaby as the fire burned through the walls of the castle. Vaporizing the water within the air, making the small siren cough softly. Shiro entered the room once again and turned to his wife.

"Yuri, give me Yukio, and took Rin far away from here," Shiro said in a panic, kneeling to his wife who was huddled against the bedroom wall.

"But Shiro! What about the kingdom?!" Yuri pleaded in response, she wasn't going to abandon her husband as she did last time, she couldn't bear to lose another mate.

"If we make it out of this, I will send out all my ships to find you, just please, go before they can hurt you," Shiro pleaded, opening his arms for Yukio.

Yuri reluctantly passed the small bundle over to the father.

"Shiro I love you," Yuri said, quickly giving Shiro a quick kiss before gliding to her feet.

"I know, I love you too," Shiro said softly while standing. "Now go!"

Yuri swiftly obeyed the order, jumping into the action, fleeing from the castle and diving into the crips waters she had long abandoned, using the magic she had spent years storing to transform her legs once again, into the emerald fin that looked almost alien to the maiden.

But she shook her head remembering the mission she had. She held on tightly on to her pup as she began to swim away from the carnage that was ensuing behind her. Not once did she look back while ripping through the navy waters to freedom. This wasn't for her safety, it was for her child, she would sacrifice her own life if that was what it would take to ensure his freedom.


	2. the breaking of a childhood innocence

Rin poked his head out of the cool water that encapsulated his small frame. Gazing across the navy water, the small siren admired the surface.

"Rin please come back, it is dangerous on the surface," His mother cooed softly.

"But mom, when will it be not dangerous, I see you looking out on the surface all the time,"

"That is different Rin, I am an adult. Others know not to mess with me. You on the other hand look like an easy target," Yuri reminded the small siren.

"Fine," Rin huffed, swimming back down to the nest where his mother lay.

"Trust me Rin that time will come much faster than you think, you only have seven more till you turn sixteen," Yuri explained softly to her pouty son.

"But that's like forever," Rin whined in response. "Besides I know how to hunt I am ready to face the world!"

"When you get older you will find the world is a lot more complex than you think," Yuri said softly in response. "Now settle down and sleep. We have a long way to travel and you are going to need your nest," Yuri said softly to her energized son.

"But mom, I am not sleepy," Rin whined.

"Rin, don't be stubborn now," Yuri growled softly in warning.

The small siren was quick to snap into place and obey his mother as he dozed off to sleep. Yuri simply curled her tail around the small being and closed her eyes just as her son had. To think, nine years went by so fast, yet still no ships from the kingdom.

Yuri was truly alone in the sea, of course, she did have Rin by her side, but he was still so young one attack for a siren and she wouldn't be able to take of Rin. He would be open to attacks by other sirens and hunters. The world was a dangerous place for a lone young siren. But for the time being, he had his mother, and that was all he needed.

The night swift came and passed, neither the moth nor the child was striped as the gentle ocean currents shifted, a cool breeze had set in over the water and dark clouds lulled in, letting large populations of fish to the surface to feed off the nutrients driven up from the darker depths of the sea by the increased cooler temperatures.

Rin woke softly to see thousands of sparkling fish, scales dull and dark, yet at the soft glimpse of the sunlight the same scales turned pure white in hue. It was fascinating to the young siren. Never had he witnessed something so amazing. Color changing fish was new to his young eyes.

"Rin, it's about time we start our journey," Yuri yawned as she awoke from her rest.

"Can we just stay here a bit longer? I want to look at the pretty fish," Rin cooed in awe, eyes fixated on the glittery fish.

"No, Rin this is a feeding ground, many adult sirens and Mers are going to be here soon and we do not want to get caught up in the middle of that," Yuri replied, dragging her son away from the edges of the feeding ground and swimming along the border between the territories.

Borders between territories were the safe zone, this certain border belonged to a rather vicious group of sirens who loved to torment the Mers that tried to cross so Yuri didn't waste a single second.

She made sure to not swim overly fast as she didn't want to attract any "special" attention to herself or Rin. If they two were to be noticed then that could easily turn bloody and dangerous for both the mother and the son.

Thankfully the tragedy did not set in on this part of their journey as Yuri was able to make it safely to the nest she had once lived in, it was hidden behind and a pile of twisted coral that only the most nimble could access, then once you slipped through the collar you had to navigate through three dark tunnels and the second tunnel lead to a small hollowed-out cave, perfect for a nest. Enough room for a nester, a few eggs, and a protector to all rest, but not too big as to welcome large predators.

"What is this place?" Rin purred in awe as he slipped through corals in exploration.

"Now Rin let me go in first, I need to make sure this place is clear before we inhabit this area," Yuri laughed at her son's curiosity as she diligently passed through the coral.

"But where am I going to stay?" RIn whined knowing being alone out in the open was dangerous for him.

"You stay hidden within this coral," Yuri answered as she slipped into the darkness of the cave.

RIn clung to the closest pillar of coral, rarely if ever he was left alone by his mother, he didn't like it. Rin felt so exposed and open to the sea, which was odd, he never felt so vulnerable before. The once comforting ocean had a darken tone to it. What would happen to him if something bad happened to his mom? Sure he could hunt, but he knew nothing of the territories or proper etiquette.

Yuri had once said ocean etiquette is something you have to learn on your own and with time. But when would that time come for the siren? Rin could only sit and ponder as the waves above him soothed softly against the vast water in which they were a part of.

"Alright Rin this den is clear, come explore while I settle everything," Yuri said appearing out of the cave, Rin jolted in response to the sudden appearance of his mother.

"Mom," Rin hissed in response.

"Oh did I scare you?" Yuri teased softly, sticking her tongue out at the fiery boy.

Rin growled as he brushed past his mother, not caring as she giggled at his huffy state. He was going to show her! He wasn't scared, She just surprised him, he didn't get scared. He was a great, brave strong siren, he wouldn't be frightened by his own mom!

Yuri swam after the siren who was being rather pouty, but the confident mask slipped as he got caught up by the three tunnels.

"Do you need help?" Yuri asked, offering a hint to aid the siren in his quest.

"I don't need your help. I am a great siren," Rin growled huffily in response, yet he stayed still trying to figure it out.

"Oh great siren the nest is this way," Yuri hummed mockingly as she passed him.

"I knew that!" Rin meeped following after his mother. "I was just testing you,"

"Sure you were," Yuri sang, having a fun time teasing her son over his pride, only leading him to flush up in embarrassment.

Yuri and Rin finally arrived at the nest and Yuri began prepping the bed for their inhabitants, and Rin stayed close by watching his mother work ever so carefully. First, she got rid of the sand that had piled up and exfoliated the stone of the cave using that same sand, then she put all the excess into a pile and began polishing certain parts of the cave, the small dips in which one would rest.

Then she began carving through the soft limestone creating a small bed for her son, all the while as Rin watched.

Yuri soon caught a glimpse of her son after finishing her work. "Rin, why haven't you gone exploring?" Yuri inquired.

"Well I mean one day I may need to know this, and I have never really seen you do this before," Rin replied simply.

"Don't worry Rin I will be here for much longer than you think, but if you want to learn I see no harm in it, come over there I will teach you how to carve a bed," Yuri chuckled in response.

Rin swam over to his mother and sat next to his mother as she showed him how to dig through the stone, her claws ripped the mineral so easily as a hot knife would through margarine. Rin follows the instructions of his mother and was delighted to find a similar result from his efforts. Yuri gave him a few more tips before going on to prepping the rest of the den.

Rin felt an air of confidence and pride as he carved his own bed, he made all himself! It was a glorious moment of pride from the siren, this small act gave him a burst of courage in himself. Maybe he could fare better in the world than he thought.

After cleaning up Yuri got Rin ready for hunting, she made sure to have him clean his own scales this time around, as it was another skill he would have to learn so better sooner than later. Then they went on their merry way to the bay on which fishes often came to feed, Yuri made sure both her and Rin were hidden under a pile of stone so that they were not open to attack and so they were out of sight from the fish.

Small habits like this is what helped Yuri stay safe for so many years, if sirens were to recognize her then there would be a problem, they would either try and capture Rin or kill him, both were not valid options for the mother.

Soon a fish with bright crimson along it's back and cream scales along its underbelly swam into the bay, laying perfectly in position for Rin to begin his preparations to pounce. The fish stayed perfectly sedentary, which the mer found odd, most fish would at least be breathing, but there was no motion from this fish.

Before she could stop her son he pounced on the fish expertly catching it and quickly delivering the fatal blow as Yuri taught him. Then to the mother's horror, a net was thrown over Rin and it was quickly wrapped around his fragile form and he was brutally ripped out of the water, not giving him time to switch between his gills to his lungs.

Then he was thrown atop of a ship that was hidden behind the rocks that Yuri had hidden under. In a panicked daze, Yuri went to the surface in search of her child and she too was caught and thrown on deck.

"Great work," The first mate chirped happily. "The captain will be glad to see such a catch,"

"Let me go," Rin growled in response, squirming in the nets which he was entangled in.

"Oh it looks like we got a fighter," Another crewmate purred in sadistic delight. "He will be fun to break,"

"Rin!" Yuri screamed in desperation.

"Mom!" Rin cried in response.

"Aw, how cute he is crying out for his mom," The crew teased and taunted.

"We don't have time for this, take him under the ship, I will inform the tagger," The first mate snapped, barking orders carelessly. The crew quickly followed the orders and six men grabbed a hold of the siren boy and restrained him from movement as they dragged him down to the lower parts of the ship.

Rin tried to scream out for help but he found his mouth quickly covered by one of the crewmates.

"Now there is no need to disturb the others in this ship," One of the crew laughed.

Rin wanted to scream and cry and fight but he couldn't, no matter how much he squirmed, no matter how hard he tried to scream or cry, he couldn't escape. He just wanted to be back hunting with his mom. Then he was haphazardly dropped onto the ground and locked into rusted metal bands that connected to the floor.

The small tail was pinned to the floor as the siren squirmed trying to be free, he just wanted to return to his home. The ocean was where he belonged, he needed to be there, he couldn't move outside of it! He needed the ocean to live, breathe, and hunt. The rusted iron bonds burned against his already small and sensitive scales only making him crave the soft touch of the ocean once more.

"He is in here. A rather fine specimen if you ask me. He seems to be no older than thirteen," The familiar daunting voice of the first mate purred.

"Clip him. I will talk to the captain about his desires on what to do with him. Once he is clipped bring him to the deck above the captain will want to see him." Another voice spoke briskly, throwing the order.

The worker entered and Rin froze in fear.

"Aw look he is so scared! How pathetic, you think a siren of all beings would be less pitiful,"

"Where is my mom? Why are you doing this to me?" Rin sobbed, strangling against his restraints.

A thin man walked into the room and growled softly. A sharp slap quickly silenced Rin. The shift sharp pain startled Rin as he had never been slapped.

" restrain him completely,"

" is that entirely necessary?"

" Are you going against my orders? do you wish to be flogged?"

"No sir,"

"Then get to work,"

Three more iron bars are secured around Rin pressing him against the splintered wooden floor, restricting his breath almost entirely. Then the guard slipped a metal guard in his mouth, the blocky metal had rough sharpened edges that carelessly cut into the pink gums of the young siren filling the already restricted airway with drops of blood.

Rin tried to whimper but he couldn't. Rin didn't have the breath to cry out, and his vision was getting hazy from all of the stress and action. Rin never felt so many stimuli influencing him. He was in a new place, he was without his mother, and thousands of scents lingered around the rickety ship.

It was all scary to the tween, this place had danger lingering in the air, the danger of the unknown, and fear of what was to come.

Rin's tail was gripped harshly by the nimble man, the siren wished to get the man away from his fin but he was restrained in a way which it was impossible to do so. Sadly, the discomfort of the muffle and the aggression of how his fin was handled would be the least of the pain he would endure on the ship.

A cart was rolled in and the man grinned wickedly as Rin's eyes filled with panic. A warm glow of heat was what he felt at first, but then sharp blistering pain ripped through the frail webbing off his tail fin. Disrupting the hidden nerves in the feeble tissue.

Rin screamed in agony as the burning pipe abused his sensitive flesh tearing and burning a hole through the flesh. Rin tried to fight the bonds but they only dug further into his skin, as the muffle only cut further into his virgin gums.

Once the pole was fully slipped through it was ripped aggressively from the fin, only producing more tears from the boy. Waves of blood circulated through Rin's mouth as he had no way to be rid of it, other than, drinking it, so for his own survival, he did his best to tilt his head back as he swallowed. The blood tasted so foreign to him, never had he tasted his own blood, it was oddly tangy and matched the quiet metical taste of the muffle.

He wanted to gag on it, but he knew that would only bring trouble, his blood didn't taste good, not like the blood of a fish or eel. Rin could tell this blood was not meant to be tasted.

Soon he felt a soft rhythmic thump of where the pole once resided. The thumps receding from the wound were similar to the steady beats of his heart, then he remembered he had a heart. It was an odd thing to forget, of course, he had a heart, he was a living breathing thing, all things had hearts, they all had bodies and blood. That lead to wonder, did these things have hearts? They seemed to be alive, but why would a living thing do this to him?

"Scared yet boy?" one of the guards asked smugly.

"Silence," the man snapped. "I don't need any assistance in my work,"

His tone was bitter and cruel, mom had told Rin that everyone on a ship was like a family, but whatever family this was, it didn't seem to be a nice one.

Lifting the pole again the man stabbed a hole through the most sensitive part of the skin, located at the point of contact between the webbing and the main muscle of the tail. It was riddled with nerves and blood veins distributed throughout the entire fin. Tears in this mussel would render the entire fin useless, as it would paralyze the fin.

Those who bought the Mers and sirens captured did not care for the effectiveness of the tails, after all the mermaids and mermen, and the occasional siren we're all just decorative pieces that were sold on the black market to high-end customers.

The tip of the pole was pressed against the skin, the heavily increased waves of pain sent panic ripping through Rin, he could tell his fin was in danger, in very critical danger, he couldn't allow this to happen, so he struggled with all the energy he had left. Amongst the rapid squirming and panicked cries of Rin the pole slipped from its target and instead dove lower than intended missing the mark and keeping the fin functional.

This greatly agitated the worker who roughly twisted the fin in brutal fashion. He would break the tail fin if he had to. This got Rin to scream out once again as his abused fin could hardly handle anymore torment, and soon another man entered the room.

"Why on earth is this taking you so long?! Our captain is getting rather impatient," The brisk voice scolded. "What on earth are you doing?!"

The man quickly dropped the tail in fear. "I am trying to deactivate the fin he is being rather difficult!"

"You already punctured his tail did you not?"

"Yes but-"

"Well, then why wouldn't his tail be deactivated? Unless you do not know how to deactivate a tail? Is that what you are claiming?"

The man went silent as confirmation would get him removed from the ship, and getting removed from a ship was in no way pleasant.

" get the fasteners,"

The man was agitated for sure and the brisk man simply huffed and leaned against the wall as the metal was brought out.

The plates were roughly screwed into the aching wounds. Rin wanted to cry but he had lost all his energy; starving bleeding, cold, and in pain. All Rin wanted was a nap, just to cuddle up with his mother, feeling safe in her warm embrace once more.

A light of hope seemed to ignite as the bonds were undone, and the muzzle was removed, maybe he was going to get to see his mom after all! Two guards dragged Rin to a cell which they threw the siren into with little regard to his safety. Soon the guards got a harsh tongue lashing from the brisk man who had seemingly snapped at their incompetence.

Soon they left and Rin alone with the remnants of pain as his only company.

"Hey, kid are you alright?" A mer cooed softly, he seemed to be trapped in a cell as Rin was.

"No," Rin whimpered softly, burying his face in his hands.

"Well if it makes you feel better you can talk to me, my name is Takezo," Takezo introduced, showing a smile to the siren.

The small simple action was comforting to Rin, like a softy ray of sunlight amongst a dark savage sea.

"My name is Rin," The siren answered.

"How old are you?"

"Nine,"

"How big is your family Rin?"

"I only have my mom,"

"Well Rin, stay strong and alive for your mom," Takezo responded quietly.

Rin nodded as he sniffled softly, wiping away the tears that had decorated his small features.

Soon the guards came back for Rin but this time he didn't even bother fighting. Takezo was also dragged from his cell and Rin could see a similar metal lock on the Mer's reddish-brown tail, it was embedded in the delicate fabric of the tail fin as well.

A door was kicked open and sunlight glared across the sirens' eyes as he was dragged to the top deck. He enjoyed the fresh air, the crisp sharp fresh scent of the ocean, and the pastel light that was shone across the sea.

But a bitter scent washed past him, it stung his sinuses as he inhaled. Turning his head his eyes stumbled across something; yuri laid bleeding, broken, bruised. Her hair was torn, and mangled, parts of the chocolate locks were doused with blood, dozens of small scrapes and scratches laid across the body, and large patches of her scales were either bleeding or ripped off entirely.

There were five rips in the thin tissue that made the Mer's tail, making the fin utterly useless. Yuri's once bright eyes were now dull and lackluster, she was broken. Rin couldn't even bring himself to call out for her. What could his mother do now to help him? Nothing, that is anything anyone could do to stop this.

"He is as beautiful as you claim, your assumption was correct. He will make a fine pet for our lord, we will eat well!" A joyous voice purred.

"Captain, what shall we do with the mother?" The first mate asked happily.

"Throw her for our sirens. It has been a while since they haven't eaten from us for a while," The captain cooed in delight as excitement spread through the crew.

A breaking rope was tied around the bleeding fin and Yuri was hung upside down over the water, her blood ran down her body and it hit the water awakening two sirens that slept below the ship. The once calm water quickly grew agitated and rapid as the sirens began jumping from the water in an attempt to try and catch the mer.

"Patient now, it's no fun if you eat her too quickly," The captain laughed.

Soon the after leaving her to dangle, to Rin horror the crewmates began cutting at the rope.

Rin tried to squirm out of the grip of those who were holding him, as soon as he started calling out to his mother, trying to gain the siren's attention, they were sirens so they wouldn't hurt her if they knew she had a kid right?

The crew stopped cutting when they heard Rin's cries for his mother, a sliver of guilt held them back as they knew the sirens would not care for her safety, after all this would kill her painfully, and right in front of her own child nonetheless.

The captain simply tsked in disappointment at the hesitation and drew his sword cutting through the rope quickly, sending the Mer to her death as she fell to the claws of the sires who quickly tore through her.

She couldn't help but shriek in pain as the sirens dug into her soft tissue.

The screams from his mother lead Rin to cry out in distraught and he began struggling trying to aid his mother, the guards quickly found it hard to withstrain him without harming him, if he were to show signs of mistreatment then the boss would have their limbs for harming the siren.

The captain growled at the insisting noise from the siren, he wanted to enjoy the feeding but the weeping and screaming from the child wasn't fun to hear.

"Take him to my champers," The captain growled at the guards. "Make sure he stays quiet,"

Rin was benign dragged once again but they were careless in what they allowed him to view, he got a perfect glimpse of his mother being ripped to shreds by the claws and fangs of the sirens, who quickly devoured the pale flesh.

Rin could only stare on in horror, as Yuri's lifeless eyes met his own. At that very moment, the world seemed to shatter for the siren. The sky seemed to darken and grow dull and all color seemingly faded from his world, as his mom slipped away. Rin's heart froze in his chest and he could feel a deep pain set into place, this was a different type of pain than before, it burned through his mind and carved its way through him.

No tears fell from his eyes as the reality set in, he was alone, destroyed, he had no one. Soon Rin's vision began to fade along with his mind, he was asleep before the guards even reached the captain's chambers.

"Um, Captain?" The guards spoke up.

"What!" The captain growled in anger, his head snapping to the guards.

A ship was on the horizon, with dark purple sails flying an all too familiar silk silver flag with the notorious captain embroidered along the flag. The air went eerily still as they all knew what this meant. They were caught red-handed, by no other than Samael.

"Kill all the cargo," The captain barked, in fear.

"But captain!"

"Just do it, we can't afford any of them taking revenge!"

But before anyone could act, an olden eyed siren lept from the ocean, his fangs dug into the captain's neck as he pounced, killing the captain instantly.

The siren looked over to the boy being manhandled by the guards, the very audacity of the guards made him snap. Amaimon attacked them next, quickly transforming into a more human-like form, clothes wrapping around his form as he did so.

The rest of the ship went into an immediate panic and the ship was quickly approached and overtaken by the members of Samael's crew. Soon all hunters were apprehended and dragged to the top deck, just in time for Mephisto to board the hunter's ship.

"Good work Amaimon," Mephisto purred in praise, then he turned to his attention to the hunters and sneered in pure disgust.

"How many lives did they take?" Mephisto asked as his first mate approached.

"Six female mers, three males mers, and one siren male. Four of the females and one of the male mers were killed, sir," Belial replied, handing the paperwork to his captain.

"I see, well get to work on removing the metal cuffs, once you are done I will come to heal their fins, and we can release them back into the ocean," Mephisto sighed in response.

"About that," Belial began softly.

"He looks no older than ten, if we were to release him at this time we wouldn't make it far on his own," Amaimon said bringing the small siren to Mephisto.

"We also only found three of the female mers' bodies, they must have fed the mother to their sirens," Belail added.

"He is going to have rather bad mental scars form enduring this Samael the least we could do is take care of him until he could fare a bit better by himself,"

"Of course, Amaimon, bring him back to our ship, I need to interrogate the sirens of this ship," Samael said softly, the anger hidden beneath his tone.

Amaimon swiftly carried the boy to the other ship, Rin looked so vulnerable like this, so open and exposed, so easily Amaimon could sink his fangs into his gills and kill him, but something deflected that desire. Possibly it was internal protector instinct, though these have never gotten in the way before...

Possibly it was because the boy was a nester, at least he seemed to fit the nester type perfectly. Or maybe it was just how utterly pathetic the boy looked.

"Lord we had no other choice," The sirens whimpered as Samael loomed over them.

"Oh but you did, you both chose to go along with this, no siren is forced to be bound to a ship. You did this because it was good for you, and the ocean is no place for an unfaithful siren," Samael snarled, removing his gloves, coat, and hat, passing them over to his first mate.

Belial took a step back to avoid the blood spraying across the captain's accessories. So Samael began, first tearing through the siren and emptying their stomach to see what all they had consumed, the emerald scales brought a pang of sadness to his heart, the sirens truly did devour the boy's mothers...

Then he turned to the hunters for further context on the boy. Amaimon was glad that Rin was asleep, for the sight of Samael's work might disturb him further.


	3. the beginigns of a bond

Awakening from the dark abyss that held him Rin gazed around the room. He awoke on a plush pale object that had a thin sheet thrown over the top, it was far more comfortable than any stone or floor he had slept on, so he decided to stay on the object. 

In his comfortable position, he got a chance to view the room in which he was stationed. Purple, he was quickly able to recognize the colors painted on to the walls as purple. But they were different versions of purple, not the bright and soft purples he had been accustomed to, they were much darker in tone and held a more sinister feeling.

He could feel a steady rock that gave him the comfort of knowing he was still located over water, though where was the real question. There were no windows in the room and the only source of light was a single candle that was mounted safely on the wall, whatever place this was it was much better, cleaner, and better built than the other room he had been placed in.

Then it all came back; he was in the captain’s quarters. He needed to leave and now! This ship, this place, it was a bad place, nothing good would come from staying. Rin scouted the room for any and all exists quickly he caught sight of a dark polished door. The door seemed to have a shiny coating, it almost looked like slime but it sat unmoving and unaffected by the rhythmic movement of the boat.

Soon that same door opened to reveal a different man, this one had piercing golden eyes and grassy green hair that was rather unkempt and ragged but still free of any tangles. His clothes consisted of various shades of mismatched colors, such as yellow, purple, and black. There were small spikes around his outfit that gave him a more threatening look.

Rin bared his fangs at the intruder and began to snarl in warning, he was in no way scary but his growling was all he had. 

The man simply looked at the creature in awe, “Well that's rather rude, especially since we just saved you,”

“The ocean is my home and I was doing fine with my mom,” RIn whimpered in response, as the topic was still rather fragile in his mind.

“Do you know where you are?’ The man asked.

“On the bad ship,” Rin snarled back in confusion.

“No you are the Stella Rosea, lead by Mephisto, he and his crew have been rescuing and setting Mers and Sirens free from hunters for decades now. Mephisto sent me to bring you to him, he wants to talk with you,” The man replied simply walking closer to Rin.

“H-how can I believe you,” Rin whimpered trying to scoot away from the man.

“I am a siren too, if you want when we get out of the ship I will show you my scales,” The man replied, arriving next to Rin and looking down at the siren.

“W-well sh-shouldn’t you introduce yourself so I know what to call you,” Rin stuttered trying to find a way to delay contact between him and the man.

“I am Amaimon,” 

“Ok, and I am Rin,” Rin replied softly.

Amaimon simply nodded as he scooped Rin up in his arms, making the small siren chirp in protest. The covers were removed from Rin and he could now see his tail fin, it was wrapped in a white cloth of some sorts, yet he could still feel the metal brace lodged in his fin, though it held little pain, just a mild discomfort as he was unused to the device.

Amaimon carried Rin out of the room, not caring to close the door as he walked through. Rin quickly viewed his surroundings so he could memorize the path back to the room in which he was stationed. Walking at a brisk pace Amaimon was quick to find Mephisto who was gassing out at the sea as his secondhand man wielded the steering wheel.

Rin was relieved to see the familiar bright hue of the ocean, and he was more than happy to have the ocean air roll over him. Amaimon was quick to carry Rin to Mephisto who seemed to be completing a rather important topic, making the siren almost hesitant to approach. To disturb Mephisto while in deep thought was to ask for punishment, and punishment was the last thing Amaimon desired.

“Mephisto I brought the kid,” Amaimon said simply waking Mephisto from his daze.

A smile crept onto the captain's face as his luminous green eyes drifted over to the siren in the delicate hold of Amaimon.

“Well done, Amaimon,” Mephisto purred, the words sliding off his tongue ever so softly. “So has he spoken yet?”

“Yes, he seems to have quite a bit to say, or at least he did,” Amaimon replied as his own gaze drifted to the boy in question. “His name is Rin,”

“So Rin, did you rest well?” Mephisto cooed gently to the boy.

“Yeah,” Rin muttered softly burying in his face in Amaimon’s chest.

Mephisto hummed softly at the reply. “So Rin there are two opinions for you, we will remove that bothersome instrument on your tail fin, and we can release back to the ocean, or you can stay with us on the ship for a while, and I can teach you proper magic,” Mephisto answered, his voice seemed to provide a comforting warmth Rin found he was lacking from some time now.

“Either way we are removing that thing on your tail,” Amaimon clarified. 

“I would like to stay. You seem nice,” Rin added softly, moving his head towards Mephisto.

“Very well then,” Mephisto chirped. “Amaimon, you know where to bring him, I will join the two of you in a moment,”

Amaimon once again began his quick pace to yet another new place, this room was cold and smelled weird, like aline chemicals, they were rather harsh on the virgin scenes of the young siren.

Amaimon set Rin on the metal table in the middle of the room, he slowly began to undo the wrapping of the bandage. Revealing the abused fin. Amaimon couldn’t contain his sneer of disgust at the work of the hunters. Hunters were truly cruel beings, destroying the fin of such a delicate and beautiful being; they were truly disgraceful.

“This is going to burn,” Amaimon wanted before pouring a clear liquid over the tail fin, making Rin cry out softly. “Sorry,”

Rin could only watch as white particles fizzled around the wound, heating the metal slightly at the collision between the two items. 

Amaimon hummed in interest and put a cloth in Rin’s mouth. “Bite down on this when it starts to hurt,” Amaimon explained to the small siren. 

Amaimon then poured another clear liquid into a small glass and poured that over the wound. As the first few drops set in and began to burn Rin’s instincts whispered to him, telling him to flee, to get the pain away from his fin, anticipating this Amaimon had already secured the tail fin to the table.

As Rin whimpered at the pain Amaimon began to sing a gentle melody to the boy, the soft voice seemed to numb the pain as Rin listened on. Rin’s cries died down as he heard the soothing melody.

“What are you singing?” RIn asked softly through the cloth that laid in his mouth. 

“A called a snthmy, sirens will sing a snthmys for many reasons, mostly for catching food, but three are some snthmys that can be used for other reasons, for explained the one I sang to you helps you deal with the pain,”

“How does it work?”

“Well pain is just a signal your body sends to your brain, it just alerts you of a disturbance or a problem within your body, so that snthmy distracts the mind from that alert. Snthmys are mainly used to distracting after all,”

“You seem nice Amaimon,” Rin said softly. “I like you,”

Amaimon was stunned by the compliment, in all of his years of brutally hunting ripping through flesh, and devouring those who infringed on his territory, not once has he been described as nice, let alone by a child.

Mephisto soon entered the room and began inspecting the wound. 

“Very good Amaimon I see you disinfected his wounds already,”

“Yes, I did notice that the mark was missed on his upper fin, his fin was not paralyzed,”

“Very good, that means less work for us,” Mephisto sighed in relief. Mephisto gassed over to Rin, the small siren seemed more relaxed than usual.

“Did you use a snthmy on him?” Mephisto asked motioning to Rin.

“Yes, I didn’t have to sing for long for it to take proper effect,”

“How sweet of you,” Mephisto purred. “If I didn’t know any better I would think you are growing a soft spot for him,”

The small tease got a cruel snarl, shutting down the argument quickly. “I do not care about some orphaned pup,”

“Calm down, honestly you are so sensitive,” Mephisto tsked, taking back his statement that injured the siren’s pride so badly.

The said orphaned pup was rather hurt by the comment made by the elder siren. Rin had begun to trust the elder siren, only for the very mention of a possibility that the affection may be returned, to be so curly brushed off. 

“Getting back on topic, I am going to need you to keep him still for this part. We don't want to activate the wound more than necessary,” Mephisto explained.

Amaimon soon began securing the other resistant on the table, just tight enough as to limit the movement but not to hurt the boy, these restraints were also fashioned out of leather instead of the metal used previously on the “bad ship,”. This was a much comforting fit for Rin, though he despised the feeling of the constriction. 

Looking at the boy Amaimon contemplated singing another snthmy, but decided against it, Samael would only mock him. Besides, the orphan pup didn't mean anything, or so he believed.

Mephisto got to work undoing the bolts and screws, he was sure to be gentle when removing the bolts, he didn’t want to cause any more injury to the growing tail fin. Thankfully the punctures didn’t get infected, no extra work was necessary for healing the tail.

Smiling, Mephisto removed the metal and placed it onto the table, he then traced over the top of the outer rims of the holes created by the metal.

“Can you feel this?” Mephisto asked softly to the siren.

“Yeah,” Rin muttered in response.

“Does it hurt?”

“A little,”

“Could you describe the pain to me?”

“It feels, kinda sore, even though I didn’t swim on it,”

“So it seems the tissue was bruised,” Mephisto muttered as he began to ponder the remedies he could use. “I could use magic on this, but it seems this will heal better if we let it rest,” 

“So what are we going to do?” Amaimon asked undoing the straps

“Rewrap his wounds and then wrap the rest of his tail, we don’t know how long it could take the tail to heal and the last thing we want is for it to dry out,”

Before he left Mpehsito got closer to Amaimon.

“It’s not his fault you lost so many pups, he was relying on you, you should apologize to him, besides from this day till the day he is fit to leave he is our pup, our responsibly and ours to look after,” Mephisto muttered quietly so the pup in question would not overhear.

“I… I know Samael, it’s just he reminds me too much of Father, even worse I can't sense any magic in him. He seems too bold and without the skill to back it up, it seems he would so easily slip away,”

“Have more faith, Amaimon, he was able to survive the tagging, and by the extra wounds he had earned, I can tell he is more than capable of holding his own. At this point, it’s not much, but I have a feeling he will grow rather quickly, and with that, his skill set will grow as well,”  
“I suppose,” Amaimon sighed as Mephisto walked away and slipped out of the room.

Amaimon soon got to work cleaning the wounds once more, cleaning this time around was less painful than it had been but it still made the young siren flinch, his wounds were still rather fresh and painful.

“Is what you said true, do you really not like me?” Rin asked sadly, his eyes holding hints of hurt and pain.

“I don’t like getting attached,” Amaimon replied softly, he had nothing against the boy, in fact, he found that he enjoyed this young siren’s presence more than a lot of others, but it was just something he adapted to. He couldn't get attached to young sirens, not when so many died or were killed, and those who survived turned into bothersome and annoying adults. 

Rin simply bowed his head sadly as he sat up, he failed to make a connection with the only other siren he had met. Rin felt truly alone on this ship, even though he could smell and sense so many life forces on the ship, even the wood seemed to be alive with history and memories, yet he felt empty, hollow. 

“It’s nothing personal, I have nothing against you. I have just seen the downfall of thousands if not millions of siren pups over my years. Those who survive birth and hatching, then they have to survive and learn fast, even then there are thousands of codes and rules they can never possibly learn and yet are still expected to do so,” Amaimon replied, digging through the cabinets. “The system was built for them to fail, yet it is the way of nature, it keeps a limit on the apex predators in the world and ensures only the strongest sirens survive,”

“Well maybe you can teach me the rules,” Rin chimed in, “Mom always said I was a fast learner,”

“Do you even know how to hunt?” Amaimon insisted, sending a judging glare over his shoulder. 

“Yeah, on my last hunt I…,” RIn began happily only to have the smile quickly fall from his face. “I caught the fish,” Rin clarified softly.

“Then why are you so upset?” 

“I… it wasn’t a normal fish I caught, it was bait,”

“The first lesson, forget the joy from your old life, your time hunting and living with your mom is over, she is gone and is not coming back,” Amaimon began, finding the ointment he was searching for. “ As for your skills, there are ways you can define a baitfish and tell it apart from a normal fish, along with this there are many small tips and tricks that you can use to identify and hunter and avoid them,”  
Mephisto stood outside the door listening to the conversation between Amaimon and Rin, they were building a bond just as Mephisto had told Amiamon to do. Mephisto nodded in satisfaction and got back to his work. 

This boy would be good for the two, it would help Amaimon open up and would give Mephisto the chance he never got, none of his mates seems to ever get impregnated despite his various efforts. He had given up and when he did finally have an heir...

He shook the memory from his mind as he got back to the deck, the waves seemed to shimmer ever so brighter as he gassed out upon them. A strong feeling within him told that this kid would be good to keep around, not just for Amaimon or himself, but for the entire crew. After all, it had been a while since this old ship had a new tenant. 

The old wooden planks that held the entire faction together needed to have some excitement, it needed to stay strong for in the eye of emergency. The old creaky of the ship had made almost everyone grow weary, yes it was organized and planned, but days were only getting longer and the old schedule was boring.

Mephisto chuckled to himself at the thought. Who would have imagined a grand life of living onboard such a voluminous ship would grow so boring? Many would kill for the chance to operate such an abounding ship, yet it was a bore for him.

“I can put it on my own tail,” Rin hissed at the elder siren, he only let his mother touch his tail, there were a lot of sensitive places on it, places only he is meant to know about and touch, and those he trusts the most of course.

“You don’t know how to, you already know I am not going to hurt you. So stop being a stubborn little brat,” Amaimon hissed back, having none of the sudden attitudes of the young siren.

Rin snarled in response, though it was no more threatening than a purr, it was still a sign of disrespect, and Amaimon would not tolerate this level of rude behavior from the pup. He wished to punish the boy for the lashing out, but he stopped himself, what use was there in punishing a kid for rules of respect he knew nothing of? 

Rin's opposition to having a third party put some mystery liquid on his tail was rather justified; the hunters took advantage of him and his size and the last two liquids hurt.

“Rin I need to put this ointment on your tail so that it won’t dry out, I also need to wrap your tail so the ointment isn’t rubbed off. Now, I would appreciate it if you could shut up and cooperate with me,”

“What?”

“I need to put ointment on your tail,”  
“What's that?”

“A rather helpful development created by the likes of humans and mers, it gives you the proper amount of water so that your scales won’t dry off and crack. I can assure you, dried and cracked scales are painful and a bother to deal with,” Amaimon explained getting the chance to creep closer.

“Will this hurt?” Rin asked softly.

“It shouldn’t,” Amaimon replied gently.

“Ok, well I trust you,”

Amaimon could almost laugh, or scoff at how easily this trust was supplied to him. Amaimon could easily break this siren’s trust, yet it was given freely; the inner workings of a young naive mind were truly fascinating.

Rin held back a squeak as Amaimon began to message the substance onto his scales. The ointment was cold and it had an odd fuzzy feeling to it that Rin was unused to, yet there was no connected scent to the substance, there was nothing other than a name that could be used to identify it.

“See as I said, it doesn't hurt,” Amaimon stated proudly as he soon finished. 

Rin’s mouth hung loosely as he thought of replying but he held his mouth shut. Asking how Amaimon didn’t activate any of the sensitive points could have led to some personal information slipping, after all, mom always reminded Rin to not let others know about the sensitive parts of your tail.

Amaimon could easily read the thoughts that were going through Rin’s mind, part of being alive for so long came with the perks of being able to read prey so easily, and the young siren couldn't be more vulnerable. 

“I have a lot of experience with tails and scales, I know how to handle them properly,” Amaimon cooed as he got out the white cloth from before.

“What is that called?” Rin asked, so he put a name to the object instead of calling it a cloth, it was not a cloth, it felt nothing like a cloth.

“Gauze,” Amaimon replied to the child.

“That’s a stupid name,”

“It is also called a bandage, but there are many types of bandages so using the generic term is not always the best,”

“Why do we put humans in charge of naming things?” Rin sighed.

“Well, they were the ones who made it so they get to name it,” Amaimon scoffed at the expiration of the boy.

“Well, they shouldn’t,”

They back and forth conversation continued steadily on as Amaimon began to wrap the siren’s tail, outside on the main deck the crew steadily at work soon began to pick up debate about the boy, they all saw how kindly the captain treated the young boy, it was bizarre to see from their leader. 

Mephisto wasn’t mean to his crew but he held rather high expectations. At the end of the day, no one was overworked and life was good, they had a comfortable place to rest, food to eat, clothes to wear, and a crew of friends.

Sure day after day got boring but it was always fun to raid a hunter ship, close to no one was ever injured in the process and the ships ever fun to pillage, and not to mention the gratification of the rescued Sirens and Mers.

But this addition to the crew could be interesting, sure new crew members were always fun; but this was, a boy, a siren boy nonetheless. The rumor of the addition to the crew spread like wildfire around the ship. Sirens were a rare rescue for them, a young siren even more so, it was only normal that the crew was surprised at the find. Keeping the siren didn’t even cross any of their minds, yet it made sense.

The ocean was not a very welcoming place to young orphaned sirens, so why would they throw a siren to its death? Keeping the boy was a much better and kind option, but still, it was bizarre.

Where would the boy sleep? What would they feed him? Who would look after the siren boy? More importantly, how would the captain’s son react? 

The captain and his son had been a bit estranged, and most of the crew thought it all boiled down to a freak “accident” year prior. Nonetheless, seeing a new crew member on the ship that the captain looks at with such care, it would be enough to make anyone jealous.

Amaimon after wrapping the tail swooped the boy up into his arms and walked Rin out of the room, catching the attention of many of the crew members. It was odd to see Amaimon, the siren of the ship, handling the boy so carefully.  
It certainly was bizarre, Amaimon was infamous for tearing through humans and sirens alike, having a cruel grin as he devoured their flesh and bathed in the bloody aftermath of the havoc he caused.

No words were exchanged as Amaimon made his way back to the room in which Rin had awoken, setting Rin on the mattress Amaimon sat next to the siren. 

“So what do you want to eat?” Amaimon inquired.

“Well, do you have any fish?” Rin asked in response, he really didn’t know much about human food and rarely he had anything other than fish, so it was a dish that was familiar to him.

Amaimon laughed at the sheer absurdity of the question. Did they fish? Yes, the ate a variant of the animal for at least one of their meals a day, if not all three. “Yes, Rin we have fish,”

“Then why are you laughing?”

“Rin we have so much fish we could feed an army of sirens and their families,”

“Then why don’t you?” Rin replied, remembering the ache in his stomach of the nights he went without food, the pain of waking up and wishing he could go back to sleep, just so he wouldn't feel sick every time he moved. It seemed no one would bat an eye if he and his mother starved to death, so that's why Rin was so avid about getting to hunt, he never wanted to feel hungry again.

Amaimon’s joy seemed to falter as he too was reminded of a time of hunger and pain for sirens, the worst of it came when the empire built by their king and queen crumbled by the betrayal of three sirens, two of which have still yet to be identified. “We have our crew to feed, besides we need something to feed the mers we rescue,”

“How many do you save?” Rin inquired in response.

“I would say twenty to a fifty a year,” Amaimon replied. “Will you be alright on your own while I get your food?”

“He won’t be alone,” Mephisto cooed walking into the room. 

“I see,” Amaimon muttered softly standing and leaving the two.

“So Rin how has your stay been so far?” Mephisto purred sitting down next to the boy.

“It’s been fine,” Rin muttered softly avoiding eye contact.

“Just fine? Did something occur once I left?”

“No, Amaimon and I just talked,”

“Alright then, is your tail feeling any better?”

“It feels nice to have that thing off, but the marks still hurt,” Rin whined in response, he didn’t know how to talk with this new person, it wasn’t a siren or a mer, or at least it didn’t smell like it. This person smelled like a human, floury, and free from any trace of water. Even though they were in the middle of an ocean.

“Are you afraid of me?” Mephisto then asked.

“No, not really, it’s just you aren’t a siren, or you don’t smell like one, you smell like a human,”

“And you don’t like humans?”

“Some humans are nice but…,”

“Some aren’t, that's how it is with every species, I am afraid you just had run-in with a particular group of the worst batch of humans,” Mephisto hummed.

Rin nodded as he burrowed into the sheets, trying to achieve a comfortable position. He was unused to the comforts of a human bed, he didn’t mind it but it was something he was going to have to get used to.

Amaimon walked along the deck as he waited for the cook to prepare a meal for the siren boy, Amaimon had made sure to request it blander than normal, he wouldn’t want the siren boy to be discouraged from the stronger tastes that species could bring.

“So Amaimon what's up with the boy?” Waro asked, fixing the sail as he spoke.

“Meaning what exactly?’ Amaimon growled in response, causing the human to flinch. 

“Why is the capital keeping him?” Jenny chipped in, being half Mer the siren held in higher regard than the human, but still, he didn't hold her highly.

“If we were to turn him to the sea he would be snatched by the hunters again or killed. We have decided to take him in and raise him till the day he is fit enough to venture out on his own, Mephisto believes the siren will grow to be a strong and useful ally,” Amaimon replies, still holding the small sneer from before.

“And he plans to do what exactly when Abel funds out? The man isn’t known for doing well with others, especially not a siren boy,”

“Are you doubting the captain's ability? Not to mention, I will also be supervising the child, Abel if he does so happen to arrive and catch sight of the boy will not have a single second alone with him,” Amaimon snarled in response shutting down all and any new questions. 

“Shouldn’t all of you be working? To think you claim you don't get enough sleep, only to have plenty of hours to gossip and second guess the very man that saved all of your lives,”

“In our defense gossiping is rather easy,” Rick added walking up to the pair, getting a death glare from Amaimon but backing down before he causes a conflict.

“You should all feel grateful that I am under Mephisto’s command,” Amaimon hissed walking to the kitchen to check on the progress of the food.

“Oh no I am so scared,” Rick taunted as Amaimon left.

“Don’t be a dumbass Rick,” Jenny snapped.

“You both dumbasses,” Waro sighed.

Amaimon couldn't be bothered to listen further as he went under the deck. Mephisto laid on the bigger mattress hidden by the shadows and he looked down at Rin. 

“So this is your nest?” Rin asked gazing around the room.

“It’s called a bedroom, but yes, I suppose this would be my nest,”

“So then I would be your hatchling,” Rin spoke, his voice asking for clarity.

“I suppose you could say that, if anything I would consider you a student of mine more than anything,” Mephisto pondered, he really hadn’t had a student before, he had children before yes, but that never ended well.

“A what?”

“A student, a pupil,” Mephisto replied searching his vast knowledge for more proper synonyms.

“Is that a type of human child?” Rin asked, head tilting to the side.

“Well sort of, but its not a trait specific to humans, anyone who is taught by someone else is their pupil, for example, person A is being taught and person b is doing the teaching, person A is the student and person B is the teacher,”

“Ok, then teacher,” 

“No you can call me captain but not teacher,” Mephisto snapped.

“Why?” Rin cooed.

“Because I am a captain, not a teacher,”

“Then why are you going to teach me? Shouldn't a teacher be teaching me?” Rin asked, having fun driving the adult into a corner. Using other’s words against them was one of the amusing hobbies Rin’s mother had taught him, and Samael was not appreciating it.

“You ask too many questions,” Mephisto huffed, melting into his bed.

“If you are a captain why aren't you captaining the ship,”

“I am looking after you like a proper mentor should,”

“Ok teacher!”

Just as the words were spoken Amaimon arrived into the room to save the day with a plate full of food for the boy.

“Brat it’s time to eat,” Amaimon announced placing the food in front of the boy.

“I have a name,” Rin scoffed in response.

“I don’t care,” 

“Amaimon be nice,” Samael scolded lightly, though he had to admit Amaimon’s words were not ones he was unable to relate with.


	4. A chance meeting

Rin was greeted by the fresh scent of the ocean as he awoke. To think two years had gone by so fast, yet so slowly at the same time. Rin amongst the pressure of training had even forgotten his birthday! But the sailors made sure to have a party nonetheless. 

Rin had blended right in with the crew of misfits as quite a few of them were rescued mers, or half-human hybrids, there were few that we rebel hunters but for the most part the crew consisted of all sorts of mers. 

Amaimon in particular had grown fond of the boy, Rin was becoming much stronger every day, he was only eleven and he could already pin his teacher. But with all the growth Rin had, The relationship came creeping by, each and every day Rin would get closer to leaving. 

But Samael wouldn’t send rin back yet! There was still so much growth left for the siren boy, and then why even turn him loose, Rin seemed happy amongst the crew.

Rin stood on his small legs and got ready for the day, Mephisto had already left the room; he always woke up too early for Rin’s tastes, and he always went to bed late. The captain got barely enough sleep, but yet he seemed to get by just fine. Rin on the other hand could never seem to get enough sleep.

Arriving on the top deck, Rin smiled, this was home to him. 

“Good morning pipsqueak,” Rick greeted happily.

Rin was on the verge of spouting some very inappropriate reply for a tween when a familiar siren spoke up.

“That's rich coming from the human of the ship,” Amaimon scoffed, hanging onto the railing of the ship as it drifted in the breeze. The siren’s period scales seem to glow in the direct sunlight.

Amaimon was the Siren of the ship, his job was to survey the water underneath and keep other sirens away from the ship, keeping the crew safe. In return for his protection, Amaimon got free food, territory, and something to do. 

Amaimon was one of the most notorious sirens, long ago he was in a pack with a few other siren lords, or kings. Together the kings would terrorize any \all humans and mers. They loved to stalk the seashores of small island colonies, but these days were long gone as society has developed past that.

“Amaimon that racist,” Mephisto scolded lightly, it was mostly meant as a joke but the captain did not want that mindset to spread, even the human was valuable to him, as a pawn of course he would never hold his crew as anything other than a pawn.

Amaimon hissed in response which got a glare from the captain, the said siren then slipped off the railing and toppled over into the water, this evoked a spit of laughter through the crew. As the crew mocked the siren Rin crept over to the Captain.

“When should breakfast be ready?” Rin muttered softly, looking up at the captain.

“In the next few minutes, and about today I’m afraid I won’t be able to supervise you while you practice, I have a visitor who is due to come today, and that meeting will take up most of my day,” Mephisto sighed.

“It’s alright I will just practice with Amaimon! I think I may be able to make the jump to the railing all on my own this time!” Rin chirped happily in response.

“I will talk with Amaimon to see if that can be arranged, this guest may not be the friendliest,” Mephisto hummed.

“Well, I guess I will just have to make a good impression!” Rin chimed in response.

“It is rather endearing that you are going to try, but this guest won’t be inflicted by any attempts you may make. Just promise me you aren’t going to provoke them,”

“Ok teacher,” Rin replied as he walked to the kitchen. The little brat had taken up watching the chefs and cooking food, he was good at it, but he was better at making smaller more complex meals, the siren wasn't built for industrial cooking.

Mephisto greatly wished to act on his impulses but withheld himself, getting a reaction is what the brat wanted… Rin truly was growing into a proper siren. As much as he hated to admit it, he knew he would have to let Rin go. The siren belonged to the sea, mephisto could not get in the way of that.

Amaimon successfully leaped and caught the riesling, hoisting himself back onto the ship. “His ship is at best three miles east away, his ship caught a breeze and is moving rather quickly, he should be arriving soon,” Amaimon reported, his fin transforming to his legs easily. The transformation spell was one of the first things Rin learned, keeping the clothes on with his transformation was a big step as well, but he was indeed a quick learner. 

“Look after Rin and keep him hidden, if He were to catch wind of Rin benign here, the results could be disastrous,” Amiamon nodded at the order and went under the ship to find the siren boy.

Soon as Amaimon predicted the ship arrived docking right next to Stella Rosea. The small crew got to securing the ship and preparing for their captain to board. The click of the captain boots let the workers know he was going to be boarding.

Walking along with the wooden platform that was so carefully screwed into the ship, Abel climbed his way to the ship and stood before his father.

“Greetings father, you called for me,” Abel stated simply.

“Indeed I did, follow me,” Mephisto replied.

The cold greeting made both crews nervous, both being dangerous and unpredictable, but at least Mephisto was pretending to be human, Abel on the other hand had no problem showing his sharp features. 

The sights of the elongated fangs and unkempt claws ungroomed were unnerving for the crew of the Stella Rosea. Sure Amaimon had claws, fangs, and the other siren traits but he was much better groomed and well kept. Abel looked unhinged almost, dangerous.

The two captains left the top deck and Amaimon after checking for clearance came back up to the top, Rin standing next to him. The first thing that caught the eye of the boy was the glimmering ship tied up to the Stella Roesa; it was smaller and seemed bulkier, definitely made of cheaper material as well.

But the small ship looked more dainty than cheap, even though there were barely any windows and those were made of a rather cheap-looking glass, Rin assumed it would at least be fast.

The crew of the smaller ship seemed to be stunned at the sight of Rin, but they kept quiet and didn’t mention the small boy.

Amaimon was quick to lead Rin over to a collection of Rooms, going through the collection of doors, Amiamon arrived at his quarters with Rin right by his side.

“So while in human form, this is where I sleep. I don’t use this much, so this is yours to practice and sleep, if Samael is being disruptive,” Amaimon said softly.

“Are you serious?” Rin asked, eyes glittering with joy.

“Yes, now if you wish, I can surprise you while you practice magic,”

“But what if I mess up? I could hurt you,”

“There is no magic spell that you know that I can’t combat,” Amaimon scoffed, sitting down on the bed in the fully furnished room.

The “bedroom” was covered in dust, though it still was extravagant. 

“How long has it been since you have been in here?” Rin asked bluntly, not caring to use proper manners. 

“At least three years,” Amaimon growled. “I hardly see why that is a problem,”

“It’s not a problem, it’s just this room looks dirty,” Rin added.

“It’s only dust, you haven't had a problem with it before,”

“Well, the other rooms of the ship don’t have dust like this!”

Amaimon huffing softly went on to softly grumble on and on about disrespect and bratty kids.

Facing the window Mephsito began his Speech. 

“The hunters are planning something. I can feel they have a plan. I am giving you this one chance, tell me what they are planning, all they intended to do and at the end of this all I will spare you of all your crimes,”

“I will say this again father, I don’t nor will I ever have any affiliation with the hunters. Nor have I committed any offense I would deem in need of redemption,” Abel growled back.

“I see you still believe all the lies Cain fed to you,”

Abel stiffened at the name.

“You may proclaim your innocence, but I know you can never wash the scent of his blood of yourself, I know you can never clean the stain his innocence left on yours the day you betrayed him. You may lie all you wish, but I can see the marks, I smelled that blood, I heard the same anguish he did,” Samael growled.

“You are not innocent,”

“It seems our meeting has come to a close,” Abel replied, stepping towards the door.

“Are sure you want to end things like this? Running away gives me a probable cause to chase your ships down, and keep all these darling crew captive. I will kill you,”

“But you won’t. I know you won’t. Spilling the blood of another siren on this ship will make you a villain to that boy,”

Samael’s lips parted showing his fangs at the mention of Rin.

“After all you are just a human to him,” 

Samael was quick to trap the siren in a charm, keeping him in a restrictive grasp.

“Why so defensive? Do you care for the orphan, he isn’t of your blood why does he even matter to you?” Abel scoffed.

“I think it is in your best interest to keep silent,”

“Oh, why? Are you afraid I will take him away from you? There are so many more things I can teach him after all the fruit tastes better before it is ripe,” Abel purred.

“Leave the ship now,” Samael snarled, removing the charm.

“Just remember, the weakest link reflects the entire strength, that is until you remove it,”

Abel sped out of the room, quickly boarding his ship and leaving Samael alone in his office. 

No matter how much he wanted him to be wrong, Abel was right. Rin was not fit for the ship, he never was, he is the weakest link amongst them and that can't be changed by more practice, that flimsy childhood trust needs to be shattered, broken. He has to learn that no one will be there to save him, he has to save himself.

Samael was going to have to betray Rin, a simple push of the ship would suffice, the boy couldn’t jump back on the ships and he would be destroyed by the betrayal…. But Rin would grow and learn from it, just because you think you know someone doesn't mean you know them.

It was a hard lesson to learn, but one everyone needs to learn, you can't trust everyone, and everyone can’t trust you. You can have a small few who you can trust, but that takes work, and you have to earn that bond.

But you have to be prepared for failure, after all, it was rather easy to break someone’s trust. Crushing years of progress and trust was easy and simple. No one knew this better than Samael, he was rather notorious for destroying hearts… it had been a game to him, but this, destroying two years of a bond he didn’t want to let go of. 

Samael soon joined his crew outside, and Rin came bolting out of the room, with Amaimon running after him in furry. 

“I didn’t do it on purpose,” RIn cried out as he dodged another attack for the furious siren.

“Rin what did you do?” Samael sighed.

“I may be entered Amaimon’s mind,”

After dealing with the two bickering sirens the rest of the day went smoothly, Rin’s lessons with Amaimon continued till midday. The crew made sure to take their sweet time during lunch, they had already had a stressful day and needed the break.  
Amaimon was rather upset by the crew's elongated break but Samael made sure to keep him in line. 

After lunch, it was time for more practice. Rin was first to dive into the water, his legs transforming to the blue-ish silver he was accustomed to. Rin joyfully swam out to the rocks as he waited for Amaimon.exploring this new rock bed he couldn't help but feel nostalgic, he recognized this area. Amaimon was ready to dive in after but then Mephisto held him back.

The sails were drawn and the ship began to move off without the boy. 

“Samael what are you doing? He isn't strong enough to get back on the ship on his own,” Amaimon snarled, as he tried to escape from the restrictive embrace.

“It’s not safe for him to be with us anymore, besides he has grown enough he will do just fine on his own,” Mephisto replied.

“But he belongs here,”

“No he doesn’t, now stay on deck until I order otherwise. If you try and bring him back I will sever your contract with the ship,” Mephisto snarled in response letting go of the siren, resulting in Amaimon toppling to the floor.

“I hope you are making the right decision,” Amaimon hissed before standing and returning to the room.

Rin who was blissfully unaware began to explore the area, staying close to where the boat once was. Time ticked by as Rin’s memory searched for any connections, then he saw it, the group of collar defending the old nest his mother had prepared…

He turned to tell Amaimon about the nest when he found there was no siren in the water next to him. Or a boat for that matter. He poked his head out of the ocean, only to see the boat was gone.

“Amaimon?!”

No response.

“This isn’t funny where are you?” 

No response.

“Amaimon please come out from wherever you are hiding this isn’t funny!”

Silence

“Please, I don’t want to be alone,”

“Please don’t leave me alone,”

“AMAIMON!”

“You said you weren’t going to leave,” Rin's voice cracked and broke in his mind as all the pain from the betrayal set in.

Where was he going now? Where could he go? He had nothing, no family, no friends. There was the old nest, but it had been years since he learned how to prepare it properly. Years since he had seen his mother. Yuri, that was her name, right? She had black, no brown hair, and yellow fin? It was either yellow or blue. Maybe it was green.

He couldn’t even remember her voice, he could barely even remember her face, did she even mean all that much if she was so easily forgotten. His mother had been nothing more of lost memory, how long till he forgot Amaimon? Why did Amaimon even matter? The siren abandoned him, left him, and the captain tricked him, the captain betrayed him and so did Amaimon. He didn’t need them, he didn’t need anyone.

All he needed was himself. Ducking back under the water he swam through the coral, he still had the path memorized, though the dark tunnels didn’t seem nearly as dark, and yet they looked untouched by time. The water still felt cold and still, heavy and collated, but still safe. 

He found the old nest, a significant amount of sand had settled, it had nearly filled in the old dip he used to sleep in, the bed in which his mother had carved was much bigger and deeper than his, but it was smaller than he remembered. He could easily fill the space.

It hadn’t even been a day in this new nest when he was ripped from the water, ripped from his old life… He knew so much more now then he did, he would \have a chance on his own. SO he got to work, dragging up two years of memories and pushing them aside as he tried to replicate the swooping motion Yuri had once made with her tail. 

The small little tips to freshen up the nest and clean out all the sand, he relocated the sand and renewed the stone, polishing it and making it a better fit for sleeping, it was harder than the mattress he had grown accustomed to, but the cold stone provided a sense of comfort he been lacking.

The stone just felt right against his scales, so he decided to take a small break, nuzzling into the carved stone he let himself unwind and relax, this place, it was all he had left of his mother, all left of this past life. But he wasn’t living in the past, he was living in the present, so this cave would be his and his alone. His mind drifted off as he slipped off to sleep.

Amaimon sat in his room, laying on the floor trying to wrap his mind around it all, Rin was gone. All alone out at sea, with no one, nothing to hold onto. Surely their paths would cross again, right?

Then he heard it, the cries and calls from Rin hit the ship. The wails were desperate, confused, and sacred, Rin was calling for him, Rin needed him. Amaimon tried to block out the calls, he couldn’t handle them, he couldn’t bear to face what had occurred, they left Rin to die. Rin was only 11, he couldn’t defend himself from a pack of sirens! Rin could barely protect himself from AMaimon when they were training.

“Shut up,” Amaimon snarled as the phantom calls continued to haunt him. “Go away,”

“We aren’t even related,”

“I don’t care about you,”

“I never cared about,”

“I will never care about you,”

The lies slid out of his mouth so easily, but each one felt like a betrayal, a despicable action that was to get a punishment. He wanted to wash the words off his tongue, the cursed tongue that spread them so freely.

He did care about Rin, more than he cared about any pup before, he wanted to see Rin grow into a siren capable of taking on Samael and winning easily. A siren capable of taking on him and his old pack, and winning with no trouble.

He wanted to see Rin’s future, and maybe even be a part of it. Being able to see as the boy grew into a fearsome force, he would love to see the siren devour hunters, making a truly perfect round of revenge. Maybe they would meet again, Amaimon wishes they would, he couldn't imagine a world without Rin.

The siren didn’t want to return to the dull world he once lived in, the life he lived before meeting Rin. He hated that life, day in and day out was boring and bland. He wanted Rin back. He needed to get Rin back. But he couldn’t lose the contract, if he lost the contract then he was as good as dead.

Rin jostled in his sleep as his mind drifted further and further from his familiar dreamscape.

“You have certainly grown,” A soft voice chuckled, the voice was different from anything he had heard before, it was smooth and calming but nothing like the captains, this was a new type of calming.

“Who are you?” Rin growled, his fangs peeking out from his lips, and his muscles loosened, tensing your muscles showed fear, and fear was weakness according to Amaimon.

“You will find that out soon enough, but at the moment that does not matter. All that matters is that you live to be an adult,”

“And what does that have to do with you?” 

“Why are you so wary of me?”

“The last siren I met betrayed me, I wouldn’t like to make the same mistake I did,” Rin snapped back.

“Well I know this may not mean much, but you can trust me, after all, you are all I can talk to,”

“What is that supposed to mean?” Rin retorted.

“Never mind that, I just want you to know, that you can trust others, not everyone will betray you, in fact, quite a few individuals may find you in close company,”

“What?”

“Don’t be an ass to everyone just because you hurt by this one experience,”

Rin was rather shocked by the calm manner in which the words were spoken.

“So why are you here?”

Before another word could be spoken Rin was startled awake. Panicked cries vibrated through the calm water disturbing Rin’s sleep. In a huff Rin moved from his nest and swam through the caves, finding him way back to the coral shelter.

A young mer, looking about ten or so years of age was trying desperately to escape from the shark trailing behind it, night tips were notorious for eating mers, they were the perfect predator, well second best predator, Sirens were the top of the food chain.

The small tail fin was already attacked as blood poured from the open wound on the sandy-colored tail. Rin jumped into action tracking onto the shark’s movement and tracking behind it, quickly catching up and latching his fangs onto the fin.

The shark, stopped by the attack directed it’s attention to the siren. The shark twisted it’s body and tried to snap at the delicate fin of the siren. Rin snapped his tail and aligned it with the shark's face. When the shark went to bite it recoiled as soon as it touched the edge of the fin. The edge was coated with thin barbs that grew naturally on the sirens’ tail, small evolutionary advantages like this are what made the siren so powerful, and these small tips didn’t even require magic, sirens would still be the strongest without magic.

The Mer stayed frozen as Rin began to carry his brutal attack across the upper body of the shark, ripping through the muscle and divorcing any nervous system he would find. The distortion was messy and not that efficient, but it got the job done, the shark was running away and would die soon on its own.

“Who are you?” The Mer asked in awe.

“I’m Rin, who are you?”

“I am Ryuji the Son of the Great family line Suguro,”

“Well it doesn’t seem that you are that great,” Rin muttered.

Crimson spread across the boy's face. “Well you aren’t that great either, you are just a bothersome pest!”

“I just saved your life! Are all Mers this rude?”

“RYUJI!” A shrill voice called out in shock. 

In a flash Rin was pinned to the seafloor, snarling he tried to fight the attacker, but the sand blinded him so he scraped aimlessly at the target.

“My darling boy are you alright?!” The voice asked in a panic.

“Yes, Mom I am fine,” 

“So what exactly were you doing out here unsupervised that siren could have hurt you!”

“I am fine mom, it wasn’t that big of a deal, and the siren didn't hurt me,”

“That's a lot of talk for a Mer who can't even fight off an adolescent night tip, the poor thing wasn't even a teen and I had to kill it because you were so helpless,” Rin spat bitterly.

“Wait, you saved Ryuji?!” The attacker asked unpinning the siren. 

“Yeah, if you take a look at his tail you see where it bit him, the bite is too wide to be mine, and I blood under my claws, seeing as there is not a single scratch on him I would say that I am not the cause,” Rin added. “Now that is all cleared up I will be returning to my den if I am such a threat,”

“Wait! We are in debt to you, we need to give some sort of tribute, what do you want?” The mother asked, suddenly.

Rin turned and faced her. “I don’t care, keep all your stuff I don’t need it,”

“Surely there must be something we can do, does any of your family need help?” The once attacker pushed on.

“Juzo, he said he doesn’t want anything let's go,” The mother snapped back.

“We are in internal debt to him until we pay him off, he could give the tribute back or just deny it but we still have to offer something, we have to respect the code,” Juzo replied, turning to Rin he asked again. “so um… boy is there anything we could help you or your family with?”

“I… I don’t have a family,” Rin replied softly. “Or anyone to share my den with, I don’t need anything for no one,”

The mother melted at words from the young siren. “Oh, you poor dear how old are you?”

“Eleven,” Rin replied softly, he was not trained to hold a proper conversation, let alone with a woman.

“Please, come back with us, it would be a great honor to have the siren who saved my son dine with us,” The mother spoke softly. 

Ryuji was floored by the rapid change in his other, sure she was not the most level headed but he never saw such a drastic change, from pure hatred, to not caring, to begging the siren to join them, Ryuji felt like his mother had been through so many turns she might as well have whiplash.

“I guess I could eat with you, but I have to warn you I don’t know much about Mers or their preferred eating etiquette and habits,” Rin muttered.

“We won’t ask you to know that, in fact, we rarely even follow the etiquette,” The mother giggled.

“Ok, well I think it would be right if I were to know your name, so I know what to call you,” The Rin spoke softly, and in broken words, trying to find a proper way to state his meaning.

“Oh? Well, you can call me Mrs. Sugruro, or Torako,”

“Thank you miss,” Rin beamed happily, accidentally letting the fangs hidden beneath his lips show. Normally this may be considered a threat, but the small sharp fangs were not meant to be a threat or even a challenge, Rin was trying to smile. Though shocking and bizarre Torako took the smile as an acceptance of the proposal. 

“You are welcome dear, now our den is cross the mounds and posited near a docking bay it is not that long of a swim I hope it won’t be a trying task for you,”

“Of course not Miss, I am strong enough to swim a further distance then you are proposing,” Rin boasted happily, leaving a bitter taste in Ryuji's mouth.

Torako nodded happily and with her son in tow began to swim back to their den, with Juzo lagging behind Rin.

“So I guess, sorry for attacking you,”

“No, I get it, Mers are afraid of sirens, and rightfully so I am a natural predator and you didn’t see me save him so you have nothing to go off but my word. I can see why it’s hard to trust me,” Rin sighed.

“Well for whatever it may be worth, I trust you, I have seen and been on the receiving ends on many night tip bites so I know what mark they will leave on their item of prey. I shouldn’t have been so quick to assume that you attacked him,” Juzo added.

“Well I could have easily attacked him, he was bleeding so you had a right to be worried, but don’t I don’t hold anything against you. I first-hand know-how cruel Sirens can be,”

“This may be a personal question, but was it sirens that killed your family?”

“Well yes and no, I was living with my mom since I can remember, it was just the two of us. Then one day while hunting I caught a baitfish and we were captured, my mom was killed and fed to the siren, but before they could do anything to me I was saved by a ship, and now that I outgrew the ship I am all on my own,”

“I see,” 

“But it has been years since I lost my mom, so I guess it doesn't matter that much now,”

The rest of the swim was silent as there was little point in continuing the conversation. The silence was rather suspenseful for the Mer but peaceful for Rin, silence was so much more than nothing, it was everything it was comforting him to him, loud crowded places were far scarier.

“And here we are,” Torako chirped happily. “Oh, Tatsuma will be so happy to meet you!” 

Swimming ahead she arrived in the caves before anyone else, she wanted to inform her husband of the Nobel Siren who bravely saved their son! After hearing a quick relapse the entire pack of Mers was quick to exit their den to meet the siren who saved Ryuji.

Being the only son of the leader of the pack was almost a guarantee that Ryuji was going to be the leader of the pack, so his survival was necessary. 

“Wow, A siren!” Renzo spouted happily, swimming in front of his parents and arriving in front of Rin, if this was any other Siren more familiar with the code of sirens then Renzo would be dead, as approaching so quickly could be seen as aggressive and Rin would have every right to tear him limb from limb.

But since this was only Rin, the disgraceful pup only got a growl in warning,

“So you saved Ryuji, right? Does that mean you are going to be our next leader since you already proved your worth?!” Renzo asked getting closer to Rin.

“Hi,” Rin replied nervously.

Before he could get shut down Renzo asked yet another question, it was seen as rude and improper to interrupt a conversation with a siren, and could have deadly results, even though Rin wasn’t one to attack the pack, wasn't taking any chances.

“How old are you?”

“11,”

“So Ryuji got saved by an 11-year-old?! How pathetic of him, Mr big tuff teen got saved by a tween!”

“Renzo be respectful!” His mother chipped up.

“Well, Sirens age faster and born stronger so I don’t think it’s that big of a deal, besides when I was his size I don’t think I would have been able to fight off the night tip either,”

“You fought a night tip?!”

“Renzo that's enough the poor boy has been through a lot today just give him a chance to breathe,”

“It’s quite alright, I appreciate it he seems fun,”

Tatsuma was next to greet Rin and the greetings carried on and on, Rin felt odd, he felt welcomed and at peace. He liked this pack.


	5. A life of his own

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> what happens when Rin journeyed out on his own and meets someone he knew once?

“Kinzo retreat I can handle them from here on out, I don’t need you getting hurt,”

“Are you sure Rin? they seem rather relentless,”

“Trust me, I can handle a little pack of adolescents,” Rin scoffed as Kinzo turned and swam away.

Ten years in the open ocean, not only had become a vital part of the pack of mers he met so long ago but he had taken up raiding hunter ships for fun, as he grew being well-fed and learning how to control his magic and push the boundaries of his limits he soon became a true force to be reckoned with.

Sirens were by far the hardest to fight off, once he got rid of the sirens then it was more than easy to kill the hunters and hijack the ship. There were few battles he lost, though of course fighting does come with losing a few times, it had been years since he lost a fight with the sirens tied to the hunter’s ship.

Hunters were truly blind, any siren worth their strength wouldn’t submit to a hunter ship, only the weakest sirens fell prey to the charms of a hunter captain. So it is rather easy to defeat a pack of three weak sirens.

“Surrender now and we will spare you,” The meek siren chirped, he was by far the largest in the group of adolescents, which was not saying much as he wasn’t even half the size of Rin.

“Listen pups this is cute and all but if I were anyone else I would have killed you by now, harassing and disrupting a siren’s territory is no laughing matter,”

“You won’t do anything! You have been groomed by those Mers to be their pretty little pet,” The leader spat, the dark scales flashing in the sunlight that broke through the water.

“Well I gave you a chance to run,” Rin sighed before slipping his fangs out of the protective membrane and leaping onto the leader, the elder siren’s claws dug through the soft skin of the younger as it let out a squeal in pain.

The rest of the small pack soon zipped away and Rin relented letting the small black-tailed siren pop up and swim away leaving a fresh blood trail behind him as he retreated. The small crimson line was quickly distorted by the changing tides.

Rin made sure to linger around to make sure no Sirens popped out and decided to attack the pups further, they needed to be taught a lesson but anything beyond what Rin did would just be excessive.

Soon however a Siren who had a similar dark hue in fin color arrived with a small band of other defenders. Rin held back a sigh as they approached, defenders were always so brash and loud, the silver tailed siren much preferred to talking with nesters; they were much more reasonable and calm.

“So were you the one who attacked my little brother?” The siren snarled, his tail thrashing through the water in agitation. 

These sirens were larger than the others, looking to be young adults or near that stage of development, Rin still outsized the largest in the group. Being a full-grown adult helped and on top of that Rin just had an oddly long tail, he always looked a few years ahead of development but it never disadvantaged him too greatly so there was little he could complain about.

“Yeah, I didn’t do anything uncalled for, he was infringing on my territory and wasn’t relenting so I sent him away,”

“An attack like that is an insult to our alpha and we will overtake you and you-” Before the siren could finish his statement, however, soon too did another group of sirens approached, these seemed to be full grown and looking more threatening than the other groups.

“Punt what have I told you about starting fights with Sirens? This darling just wants to protect the land, and it’s not ours to defend, besides we all know Una loves to brew trouble, leaving the sweet thing alone and go back to the nest,”

“But!” Before the reply could be finished Punt was cut off by a snarl from the older siren, soon did he and the rest of the pack leave, only the older siren stayed. The sirens that had escorted the older siren left with the younger pack to make sure they made it safely back.

“I do apologize for my younger brother, he is a pest,” The older siren began, he was rather decent looking; soft dark hair, enticing blue eyes, along with a darker tan, he seemed to glow under the broken light. It didn’t help that there glittering patches of scales amongst his charcoal black tail only giving him more of a diverse appearance.

So far the conversation was kind and simple. Rin was appreciating the non-patronizing tone the siren held. Most would be overly friendly and try to act like they knew everything about Rin.

“I hope you don’t mind me asking but you seem to be a nester and I can't but see you are without a mate mark, it would be a shame to see such a lovely as yourself be alone in the upcoming mating season,”

And there it was the weak attempt, as a concerned way to ask Rin to be his mate, it was the most passive and utterly annoying way one could ask…

“I appreciate the offer but I don’t even know your name, besides I have yet to have a mate and I don’t want to waste myself just for the sake of mating,” Rin replied, trying to be as polite as he could.

“Right sorry, I don’t know how to do this. I just became a full-grown adult only a few months ago, this courting thing is pretty new to me. Sorry if I sounded rude,” The siren laughed. “And my name is Gri,”

“I know the feeling, I only became full-grown a while back as well,” Rin laughed, his tone quickly shifting from defensive to relaxed and open, he had many stories to share about the thousands of sirens who tried courting him. “As for courting, don’t bring up mating until you are both certain you want to pursue a relationship, if you want to make friends just ask them about themselves,”

“Thanks,” Gri said with a bright smile.

“Well I am going to be heading back to my nest, I need to do some cleaning up before I get dinner, so I guess I may see you around Gri,” Rin purred as he swam away, leaving the siren hung on his scent.

Over the years Rin had learned quite a few small tricks to leave them wanting more but cut off enough that they know not to pursue further. 

Gri swam away from the border as Rin faded from sight, the siren could not lie he was disappointed but he had come to expect as much from his flirting attempts. 

Rin as he arrived at his nest swam through the coral maze and down the tunnels, arriving at the carved stone he called home, ten years and this place was his, all his, filled to the brim with memories. 

Looking back, nine, and two years seemed so trivial and small, he didn’t really remember those of his past, but it didn’t matter they were not in his life anymore so why linger on the past? Of course, Rin wouldn’t forget his mom, she would forever stay in a close part of his heart.

“Hey, Rin are you here? We need some help with dinner,” Bon said, struggling to swim through the coral boundary.

“Yeah, I will be there soon, and don’t break the coral!”

“It’s not my fault they are impossible to get through!”

“It’s your fault that you have too big of an ass to get through, I thought I had told you to lay off food,”

“I will have you know my tail is 95% muscle!”

Rin chuckled as he heard Bon’s growls of furry, “You really are cute,” Rin sneered as he swam out of the cave. “Now move fat ass,”

As Rin once free from the protection of the coral is when Bon attacked, Rin chirped in surprise as he shot off to the mer nest, Bon made sure to keep up.

“I am surprised you can keep up!” Rin teased creating a wave of sand to fly into Bon’s face as the Mer trailed after Rin.

“RIN!”

“Bon,” Rin sang mockingly as he beat the brown tailed Mer to the nest.

“Ms. Torako your son is trying to attack me again,” Rin snitched as he swam to the mother.

“Ryuji what have I told you about bothering Rin? Even after all the times he has saved you and kept our land safe from predators?!”

Over the years Rin had managed to crawl into the hearts of the Mers in the small colony, he has become part of their pack and was seen as a joy and a good luck charm. Rin had also been growing on his cooking abilities, using the skills he picked up from the ship and expanding on them.

“Hey Rin,” Renzo chirped coming to bother Rin who was swimming to the top of the den, breaking the surface he slid onto the deck attached to the small house they had, it didn’t have much purpose other than cooking and for a small medical station.

Still, it was helpful and gave Rin the platform he needed to get creative with meals. Spices were fun and helpful but Rin was always cautious while using them, he had been scared by the over-seasoned food the captain ate, it was a disgrace and an insult to food.

Then again Mephisto did little to nothing properly, on top of that he was no human, fighting off numerous hunters taught him that not only Sirens have unlimited access to power, but humans have no magical ability. The cursed captain, not only abandoned him but lied about himself and humans, Rin was more than satisfied to be off that ship and away from the bundle of lies.

Though part of himself longed to see the ship again, talk with Amaimon and question Mephisto. Just smell the smells he used to know; feel the old polished wood of the ship, bother the captain all day, and learn from the cooks. 

The silvery-blue siren was full grown but he still had the impression that he could learn, after all, he was immortal from now on, the most vulnerable part of his life was over and he was safe to swim in the open ocean. No predator would dare to attack Rin now, or even approach him, the only problem he could have was other sirens. Still, Rin was happy with the life he had, even if it meant dealing with an annoying Renzo.

Such a life Renzo has, going from ship to ship, he was a member of both the crew of the Lila Komet and the Feu Léger. Both ships the second strongest in the fleets of both Mephisto and Lucifer alike, the two are bitter rivals, fighting to destroy and pillage the most hunter ships. Mephisto has gained more profits and pillaged more ships, but Lucifer has saved more mers and Sirens alike.

It would be logical for the two to combine, and maybe even possible is not for one small fact, the two had rather opposing battle strategies and were both headstrong leaders, Lucifer was more calm mannered while Mephisto, not as much. 

The two captains were like light and dark, one couldn’t exist peacefully with the other around, sure they did fine on their own and they could come together and agree on some points, they could manage each other for about a month before one started to get on the other’s nerve.

“Sooooo what are you up to,” Renzo purred, nudging up next to Rin, trying to stir a reaction from the siren.

Renzo was an amalgamation of these two ideas, he had the mentality of both the light and the dark, but he adapted to be the most bothersome he could, at least towards Rin. 

“I am about to start making dinner, and since you are acting so friendly I assume you want to help right?” Rin purred, his lips revealing the fanged smirk that unnerved the mer so heavily.

“Right,” Renzo added with a smile. “So, on another note aren’t you going to ask why I am back so early?”

“Let me guess, neither one could handle you anymore so you were kicked,” Rin chuckled. Renzo worked as a spy for both the sides, though he did little to help either side, he still found his job fun.

“Nope, the Lila and Feu are going to be passing through here, they sent me to notify the nests and just scout the area, they should be arriving in a day or so, and rumor is the main ships will also be sailing by,” Shima said, his voice laced with excitement.

“You say that every time the ship comes by, besides I know the captains don’t reveal their sailing plans to anyone other than themselves and their bonded sirens. Everyone else is left in the dark which leaves them to be so hard to track and attack,” Sighing Rin bean to prepare the ingredients. “and even if they did sail by they wouldn’t be as careless to wonder so close to a territory, regardless if the nest was notified,”

“Well, this nest does supply some food, and resources for Mephisto’s fleet,”

“Still it’s going to be a rare chance that I would run into them, I am going to be cleaning out my nest and that is going to take a while,”

“Rin come on, this could be your chance to catch up with your old crewmates,”

“I wasn't part of the crew, if I was they wouldn’t have let me go. I was just entertainment for them, I don’t think they would want to see me again or have me around, I’m not a kid anymore I wouldn’t be fun for them,”

Renzo pouting slumped down and pouted on the ground, sure he had made up the rumor about the motherships coming but still he wanted to give Rin some hope. From what he heard the Stella Rosea truly did miss Rin. He just needed to convince Rin of what he heard…

“Well do you want to see them?” Renzo asked, “If anyone could find them even by a chance meeting it would be you,”

“I am not as lucky as everyone says I am, I am shiny and strong sure, but I am not a good luck charm. I have had my own fair share of hardships,” Rins scoffed dismissing the original question entirely.

“But you didn’t answer my question, do you want to see them again? Do you miss them?”

The siren froze at the reiteration of the question, he couldn’t tell Shima about the countless nights of tears and painstaking feelings of betrayal, being all alone again, living in a new but old environment, and having all the safety nets ripped out from under you as you fell. How was he supposed to feel?

“Are you going to help with dinner or not?” 

“I think I am going to go back down to the nest since you can’t seem to humor a simple question,”

The sirens’ lips curled up in a snarl, but no noise came out, so the lips fell covering the challenge, he didn’t need to expose himself further than he had already. Rin got back to what he learned to do best, keep quiet and help, starting dinner alone without help; but why would that be any different from the normal? Rin already did everything alone, look for mates, hunt, protect.

Rin was alone in a world of life, no one seemed to stay by him for very long, Bon had his duties, Renzo had his job, Koneko always had some task, the mothers of the pack always had something to do around the house and the defenders were always busy hunting or defending the pack.

Rin was part of the pack, yes, but he was still an outlier, he was almost family, but not family. The bright silver-ish blue fin could never blend in with the darker, sandier, and muddy colors of the Mer’s tails. 

Rin couldn't pretend as if he had dark brown hair and brown or green eyes, because he didn’t have that, he had been “blessed” with shining bright blue eyes and pale blue almost white hair. The Siren couldn't stick out more than he already did, he looked like a piece of colored glass against the sand of the ocean.

But that's how it was for most Sirens, they all stuck out in some way… It’s what made spotting another Siren so easy, finding a siren on the other hand was a whole another trip.

Rin desperately wanted to find a mate, a long term mate, someone he could trust and love, some he could nest and have pups with. The journey would be long and he was going to run in with all kinds of terrible options, taken sirens and untaken alike, but still he felt as if he needed to go.

The trip could be useless and he could get nowhere and achieve little to nothing, or he could succeed and find some perfect for himself, Rin would definitely prefer staying close to the nest he had currently, it was perfect for a family of Sirens, but he was not entirely opposed to the idea of moving.

Just a new place, a new world is unknown and frightening, he wanted somewhere familiar but if his mate was more comfortable at the nest and it was better equipped then he would stay with his mate. He could always visit his old home.

The rest of the night seemed to swim by without a way of slowing down; a small conversation was held over dinner, and after that, the Shima brothers celebrated for a bit. Rin took the opportunity and slipped away going to his den and packing a few of his most bellowed items to take with him on his journey, it wasn’t much; just a knife, a small little sack to carry food in, and hope. 

Unbeknownst to him, Rin was followed: the second mother to him had found it odd that Rin was so quiet, especially when Renzo just got home so she followed him to his nest.

“Hey, Rin are you alright? You know I am here for you right?” Torako asked swimming to the edge of the coral, she nor anyone else other than Rin, of course, could ever seem to get through the colorful maze. 

“Oh, Ms. Torako, I guess I just know how to tell you,” Rin said swimming out of his nest. “I am going to go look for a mate, I should be back in a week if I am unsuccessful… thank you for everything you have done to help me,”

“What?” Her voice was soft with shock, Rin was leaving? But why it made no sense he belonged here. “Did something happen with Renzo?” 

“No, it’s not his fault I’m leaving. I just, need someone in my life, someone I can live for,”  
Torako nodded softly. “I see, well if you do find someone I expect you to bring them back so I see if they are good for you,”

“Thank you for your concern, you mean a lot to me, and make sure to let Shima know this isn’t because of him,” Rin nodded swimming past the Mer.

“Wait, you are leaving right now? Shouldn't you be getting some rest?” Torako meeped in question. “Surely the open ocean isn’t safe for you,”

“I have to leave now before I can stop myself, I need this and I can't let myself get in my own way,” Rin sighed. “I will miss you,”

“As will I. Have a safe journey,”’

With a soft nod, Rin was sent off in his journey, swimming into the dark embrace of the icy waves, the full moon guided his path through the water as his scales emanated light giving him an almost ghost-like apprentice, looking as pale as the moon itself, accompanied by the very grace and calm manner that the moon was interpreted with.

Such a quiet and beautiful night it was, a perfect time for a rebirth of sorts, a new journey, a new life, he was going to find a new home, a place where he belonged. Swimming with no other aim than to find a mate Rin let his heart and fins guide him through the dark void. 

Years since he swam out on his own, so far from the nest he called his own, swimming away from the familiar place he knew to find a better home for himself.

A new place, scary as it was, could be the very answer he needed, he never really did appreciate a sedentary life, he always found more joy in hunting or defending the land, living freely to his heart's content. 

To think twelve years ago the freedom he adored was going to be taken away, his perfect fin would be destroyed and he would be seen as just a decoration or object. Just a fancy little pet for the highest bidder.

Rin swore to himself if he were to ever meet the leader of the hunters, the real leader he wouldn't hesitate to destroy them. Rip out their throat, crave through them and devour each and every part of them, bathe in their blood and tear everything apart, just like his life was destroyed

Rin would make an artistic representation of how he felt that day his mother was devoured; the pain, misery, the years of recovery, and scars. The Siren would make a perfect batch of revenge and when he was done he would kill each and every hunter that ever dared to step foot on a ship in the name of their leader.

Rin would avenge everyone who had been tortured by the hunters, he would right the wrong they left on the world, no matter what it took… But first, he had to find a mate, a reason to continue on in a boring everyday life, if anything he wanted a legacy, he wanted to avenge others of course but if he died before he could do that he wanted something else for his life to stand for. 

Exhaustion seemed to stay away from the Siren as he swam aimlessly though he did make sure to avoid territory lines, the last thing he wanted was to disturb a nest. He wasn’t going to go out of his way to ruin the sleep of others, that would not help him gain anyone’s favor. Sleep was good and important just at the moment Rin wanted to get as far from his old nest as he could.

Staying along the travel strip, he was positive he would see a few ships anchored or sailing by, but nothing that was going to get in his way. The water got oddly rapid as he slowly approached a group of ships, looking to be a small collection, around three to four, none bared the mark of hunters so Rin passed by cause no problems.

Though he seemed to stir the ships awake and soon the rails were lined with sailors who muttered as they saw the siren pass by, none of the ships in question had sirens protecting them so of course, they would be enamored by the sight of the siren, most would be swimming deeper than Rin was, but Rin didn’t want to stir any sleeping sirens on the seafloor.

Just as treat Rin lept from the air and dove back into the water giving the sailors a better sight of him. The silver scales glittered in the moonlight Rin almost looked like a star against the night sky, beautiful and bright. In return the ships lit up with cheers and whoops in joy, a bright smile was apparent on Rin’s face as he left the sailors behind.

The Captain of the ship burst out his quarters to snap at the sailor for their disturbance but he too caught a glimpse of the SIren and was enamored by it, so he let the cheering continue as he joined the crew to watch.

“Humans are so fun,” Rin laughed to himself as he went about his journey alone.

“Hey shiny, what are you doing out so late?” A new voice cooed, Rin could tell by the smooth texture of the voice that it belonged to a siren.

“I am currently on my to find a mate, a long term mate,”

“Aw how cute,” The Siren chirped, sliding up next to Rin. “Do you realize you are going the wrong way?”

“What do you mean?”

“The meeting of adults is located eastwards, you are currently headed south,”

“Oh… I hope you don’t mind but could you point me in the right direction? I don’t really know the open ocean that well,” Rin laughed softly.

“Sure thing hun,”

The siren was kind and gentle with Rin, and rather respectful, then again Rin was being respectful in return. Learning from personal experience Rin knew how much a simple smile and thank you could mean to someone. 

“Now keep on this path until you reach it, there should be sirens already there,”

“Thank you… Living thing,” Rin said nervously unsure how to end this conversation.

“You are so cute, I wouldn’t worry about finding a long term mate if I were you, a thing like you is a keep,”

Flushing at the comment Rin continued to swim in the direction in which he was pointed in, but soon he found exhaustion was wearing down on him, swimming to the ocean floor he checked for an inhabited piece of sand where he could safely sleep, far enough down that no ship would reasonable anchor, but far enough up that he could still see the lower layer of the surface, and keep his waypoint.

The sand was soft then he would have liked it to be and he grumbled to himself knowing of the likelihood that sand would get stuck between his scales and be a pain to remove, but he supposed it was best to be able to get comfortable in any environment. After all, he never knew what his mate may prefer, and he couldn’t let bedding get in the way of a relationship.

The ocean bed was oddly quiet, surprising since this is the waking hour for most creatures, and it was likely to be busy… Not wanting to look a gift horse in the mouth Rin drifted off to sleep enjoying the peace of the early morning. The soft feeling of the waves rolling over him was calming but odd, he was unused to being outside of an unprotected nest like he was accustomed.

Naturally as ever sand slowly began to bury the Siren and his glittering tail, making the uncovered scales look more like treasure than a siren’s tail. A few small ocean critters scuttled across the sandy floor and tried to pick up the treasure only to find it attached to the siren and quickly run away, Sirens after all were not known to be one of the kindest creatures.

Rin began to awake his vision, still rather fuzzy as he was not fully rested, but he decided waking up slowly would help him get a bit more rest than he needed… The Siren also felt a bit empty as if he was lacking something, well that was probably because he was lacking food.

He felt lighter than normal and he particularly despised it, he did not like feeling light and empty, it made him feel weak.

A soft noise came over his ears as he felt a shadow pass over him, a ship? It was probably just passing by and would be gone soon enough, but oddly enough the shadow was taking a lot longer than he originally thought, rather peculiar. 

The ship was either resting, without putting their anchor down or was particularly big, but ships large enough to put off shadows this big and long were rare, and normally wouldn't be docking so close to the sea bed.

Then he felt it, a pair of sharp fangs teased the open scales causing Rin to shriek in response and defended his tail, over the years his the underside of his tail became rather sensitive, oddly sensitive, and Rin did not approve of the fangs on his tail either so attack it was.

The attacker in question was quick to defend themself, biting back, though not on the tail, more on Rin's upper arm. 

In relation, Rin was able to locate the audacious thing and pin it to the sea bed, with his own fangs fixed around the neck of the attacker.

The quick encounter got the sand to fly around the water, blinding Rin, as he tried to fend for himself, his claws were now intended and he proceeded to scratch aimlessly at the attacker. 

Andrieln rushed through, not only was he hungry but he was losing blood, and quickly, his mind began to grow fuzzy.

The attacker continued to bite down on the arm, slowly digging into the tissue, the sand got lost amongst the crimson water as the fight continued. 

Rin began to whimper as he drove his fangs into the neck, drawing an eerily familiar tasting blood out of the thing. 

All morals were lost as the pain worsened and worsed, ripping, tearing, and blood, within it all Rin could only cry out as he felt the muscle in his arms slowly be torn and disconnected, sending bursts of pain, agony, and fear through him. 

If Rin were to tear away now he could lose his inner arm, so he pushed his fangs further down into the neck, threatening the thing with a small tug, if it took killing this thing he would.

Little to no sleep would be lost over killing this thing, it attacked first and Rin had no time to think.

The thing released its jaws and Rin swam away from it, swimming far away as fast as he could, leaving a blood trail behind, he didn’t care he needed to get to safety, he needed to heal his arm. 

Looking over his shoulder he found no trace of the thing and settled back into the sand, he viewed the amount of damage done to the soft tissue and muscle of his arm.

The bite mark covered nearly three-fourths of the width of his arm, and half of the length, whatever attacked him had strong, sharp teeth. The bite seemed to be clean and free of venom, easier to heal, and take care of, it would also take less magic, but Rin knew he would feel sick if he were to use his magic now.

Nonetheless, an infection would always be worse than nausea, so he began his enchantment watching closely as the mussel reconnected to the bone and other soft tissue. The pain reignited, causing even more pain as Rin felt his stomach flex, as bile traveled up his throat. 

This level of healing spell he never liked using, but it was quick and got the job done, even though it had horrible side effects. Rin swallowed the burning liquid and forced it back into his stomach, trying to keep what nutrients he had left inside his body on the inside.

Through the pain Rin was blinded and unaware of the presence of the other being, the being from before…

“Let me help,” The voice cooed, moving their hands over the wound, pressing softly around the wound, healing it instantly, fixing the rest of the tissues without any more pain. “Are you alright? Do you need to rest?”

Rin met the golden gaze of the Siren and froze. Slowly Rin backed away from the siren, dragging his arm out of the embrace. 

“I am not going to hurt you, please don’t run, the captain would be furious with me if I hurt you and just left you out here,” Amaimon whined, sounding almost desperate.

Rin scoffed “really, because leaving others seems to your thing,” His words were bitter and laced with hatred. “To think I used to consider you family,”

At the words Amaimon froze, looking bewildered as he saw Rin, this being was far more different than the eleven-year-old he remembered, he expected Rin to age, but it was so odd seeing him look so strong. But still, the full-grown body held a resemblance to the boy he once knew, the same soft face, thin and nimble body with a shocking ability of strength.

Amaimon could also never forget the looks of fear and anger within the eyes of the boy, this thing he knew, he once considered to be his enter life… but all that mattered was that he was alive.

“Rin?”


	6. the meeting

“It’s you, you are still alive… You look so strong now,”

“Don’t, I think I have had enough of you today,” Rin growled, wanting to get back on his journey.

“Rin no! Please stay, don’t leave again,”

“What do you mean? I never left you, abandoned me!”

“I never abandoned you! Samael left you and I tried, I tried for so long to find you, after a month I convinced him to sail back so we could try and find you, I searched for days, nearly two weeks but I couldn’t find you. You can’t leave now of all times. Rin we need you, Please stay, this isn’t just about me. We need your help,”

“I have somewhere to go Amaimon, I don’t have time for a meetup. I am trying to live my life, I need someone to live for,”

“Are you headed to the gathering? That is where Samael is sailing! We can take you there, I can escort you!” Amaimon beamed.

“Why are you going there of all places?” Rin retorted, eyeing Amaimon in suspicion 

“I need to find a mate as well Rin,” Amaimon huffed. “Samael and I will be overseeing the gathering as well, so we would go regardless if we already found a mate,” 

“I still don’t understand why I should stay,”

“Trust me, it will be better if you talk to Samael now before you cause a scene at the gathering,” Amaimon added swimming back to the ship. “Well, are you coming?”

“Fine, I supposed I can deal with you for a bit,” 

“good, now can you make the jump up to the railing or will I have to pull you up?” Amaimon pondered.

“I can make the jump,” RIn snarled at the insulation.

“No need to get so offended, it was a question. It may be better if I do help you seeing as your arm-,” 

“No,” Rin snapped, interrupting the elder siren. “I can handle it,”

Accepting the response Amaimon swam to the surface, breaking the water as he left over the rail, and landed perfectly on his feet. 

Rin following suite leaped out of the water, but oddly, he didn’t land on the deck, he overshot and landed in the water.

“That’s not how you get on a boat,” Amaimon teased happily.

“Shut up,” Rin barked. “I’m not used to jumping up to the railing,”

“Well, then what are you used to?”

“Jumping into the crow’s nest or the main mass,”

“What have been doing over the past ten years to jump into a crow’s nest?” Amaimon growled in suspicion.

“I will tell you once I get on deck,” Rin fired back, diving back down underwater. Once Rin broke the water again, instead of diving straight across, he hit the main mass and quickly wrapped himself around it, transforming his silver fin into legs.

The enter ship wobbled under Rin as it swayed from the entrance of Rin, shocking all the crew as they were thrown by the unexpected sway.

Rin happily slid down the wooden poll and fixed the overcoat he had on. Over the years he had found multitudes of different clothing, but he preferred to wear black, it didn’t stain easily and it was easy to match with.

Failing to catch himself Amaimon latched onto the railing as he caught his breath as the ship settled. “Rin what was that?” Amaimon asked, stunned by the abilities of the younger being.

“Amaimon what the hell was that?” A voice snapped as the door to the captain’s study flew back, nearly shattering wall the behind it. Mephisto looked, rough to say the least, messy hair, dark bags under his eyes, the toxic green irises seemed to hold a renice of pain and anger, years of sorrow….

“Guess who I found?” Amaimon sad happily, his fangs peeking out from his lips as he turned his gaze to Rin.

“No way,”

“It can’t be”

“He is back!”

The murmurs of the crewmates soon filled the air with a measure of confusion and shock, gazing around Rin could recognize a few faces but most were aline to him, either forgotten or new entirely.

“So I see there have been a few changes in your crew,” Rin added turning his to Amaimon to begin a conversation between the two of them, ignoring the captain entirely.

Mephisto couldn’t say he wasn’t upset by the reaction but it understandable. The captain in response simply leaned against the door frame, watching every movement from Rin as he spoke with Amaimon...

“A few yes, if you are wondering Rick is still around if you want to go bother him,”

“What about Jenny?”

“She went off on her own soon after you left, she found a mate and we haven’t seen her since,”

“I see,”

“So are you going to tell me what you have been up to in the past few years to nearly capsize this ship?” Amaimon inquired, his harsh tone sending the message he wanted to be heard.

“Well, I didn’t nearly capsize it, besides it’s nothing special,”

“It takes years of practice to what you did, so tell where did you learn that?” Amaimon snapping, wishing to know what other SIrens Rin had been training ith over the years…

“I didn’t learn it from anyone, I just kinda did it one day,”

“You are capsizing merger trade shi[ps?” Amaimon growled in fury, actions like that were what made Sirens so hates in the first palace.

“NO! Just smaller hunter ships,” Rin barked back. “Or trade ships that supplied weapons to hunters,”

“You are attacking hunter ships?!” Amaimon snarled.

“Why do you care? It has nothing to do with you!” Rin growled in response.

“Stupid!” Amaimon chastized, having a fit over the revelation. “I thought I had told you to stay away from hunter ships!”

“I don’t care what you said! Besides I didn’t start going after hunter ships until I was thirteen. I was perfectly capable of handling myself, and I still am,”

“Well, clearly you aren’t” Amaimon added, “No one in their right mind sleeps during dawn in the open ocean, that’s just asking for trouble. 

“Well, one had bothered me until you came around, besides I fought you off didn’t I?”

“I wasn’t attacking you at first, I could have done a lot worse than I did,”

“Why did you bite me in the first palace?”

“Your tail caught my attention, I figured it was some sort of weapon, maybe metal the ship could use, or maybe something we could sell,” 

“And you couldn’t have tried to pick it up with your hands?” Rin snarled in response.

“When I got closer I noticed the edge of your scales, at that point, I was testing if it was biological material or not. I only fought back when you attacked me,” Amaimon hissed. 

“Well if the two of you are done debating, I would like to welcome you back to my ship Rin,” Mephisto purred walking over to the sirens. “If you don’t mind me asking, are you, by chance attending the gathering?”

“Indeed I am, Amaimon insisted that I go with you,” Rin replied simply. 

“Then you wouldn’t mind if I were to talk with you, about sleeping arrangements and such,” Mephisto cooed, Rin’s eyes met his and a softens flowed into, he almost looked kind, and gentle.

“Of course,” Rin added, keeping his tone polite as he could.

The captain soon left with Rin in toe, Mephisto lead the siren along, although Rin barely needed it, he had memorized each nook and cranny of this ship, all the perfect hiding spots. Of course, his vast knowledge of the ship had faded but still retained the placements of his most visited rooms, the captain quarters, the top deck, the kitchen, and the office.

So, Rin found his eyes wandering around the ship, inspecting the walls for an ounce of difference, nothing seemed to be different other than the size, of course, that was hard to remember correctly after all he was so small when he first arrived at the ship.

Nothing was out of the place, nothing was off, everything had seemingly stayed the same… The soft sway of Mephisto cape caught Rin’s attention, had it always flowed so smoothly? Had the fabric always slid through air with such elegance?  
Had the fabric always looked so weightless and yet hold such perfect structure to it? 

Maybe after seeing all the flimsy capes worn by the hunter captain Rin just had forgotten the look of quality. Catching a glimpse of Rin’s inflation the captain couldn’t’ help but smile, he still held such wonder in his eyes after all these years. 

“And here we are,” Mephisto sang happily as he entered the office, the captain wasted no time taking a seat at his desk as Rin simply stood by the door. “Rin you don’t need to invited to take a seat you are far above that,” 

At the retort, Rin took a seat across from Mephisto. 

“So if I do recall you are now 20?”

“21, it’s been ten years not nine,” Rin correctly softly.

“Hm, I wonder are you still mad about how we last parted?” Mephisto hummed, his gaze scanning over Rin, the siren had truly grown, physically at least.

“No, I never was mad about it…,” Rin muttered simply.

“Oh so enraged then? Or does infuriated work better” Mephisto scoffed, pivoting in his chair.

“I was upset by it, you and Amaimon betrayed me. The two of you were the only one I could trust, when you left me I had no one. I know I can't trust you or Amaimon again. But I am not mad, at one point I believed I was angry, but in reality, I was just scared of benign alone… So don’t try and guess how I feel, you don’t even know me,” The response, but the tone had hits of disgrace laced into them.

“Well that's a shame, I don’t suppose there would be any way to earn your favor back?” 

“So you can betray me again?” Rin scoffed. “No thanks, I would rather spend my time with those who enjoy my presence,”

“Rin, when I left you behind it wasn’t because I didn’t want you around, it was because you weren’t meant for the ship. You were never meant to grow up at my side, you were too independent for that, and in all honestly, I kept you far longer than I should have,” Mephisto sighed, trying desperately to meet Rin’s line of sight. “Life here has become a bore ever since you left,”

“So why do you want my favor now? I am no longer a child, I have changed. I wouldn’t be entertaining for you,” Rin interrogated, all signs of vulnerability vanished as his tone went blank, not showing a trace of emotion.

A simple smirk was more than enough of a response. “Rin, there are many other ways adults can be entertaining,”

RIn froze in his seat, his heart racing as his mind flashed with the possibilities… 

“You are indeed a full-grown now, so any mate of age is open to you, and you are open to any mate of age,”

“What are you suggesting?” Rin snapped.

“I would like you to considered me or Amaimon as an option before you going running off trying to find another mate just for the sake of it, you are unmarked and new to courting, many of the sirens at the gathering would be more than happy to manipulate you for the mating season,”

“Thanks but I am not interested, I want a mate for life, and at this point, I don't trust you enough to provide that for me,”

“I see, what would it take for me to be your mate?”

“You are thirsty,” Rin scoffed in response.

“Answer the question,”

“I don’t know, the bare minimum would be to earn my trust back, and I don’t even know how you could do that,” 

“Well when you get an idea, please do notify me,” Mephisto huffed in response. 

“So was that all you wanted to talk about?” Rin asked in response.

“Ah yes, where would you like to sleep?”

“If Amaimon is not using I could take his room, and don’t worry about feeding me I can hunt for myself,”

“I could never force a guest to feed themselves,”

The two quickly indulged in conversation, as they made arrangements for the younger Siren. RIn, though rather opposed at first Rin agreed to be fed by the ship, and eat with Mephisto. Though Rin refused to sleep in the same room as Mephisto, he didn’t trust the elder siren that deeply, not yet.

It would take more than a simple conversation, a few flirtatious glances, and sweet talk to rewrite the years of betrayal that lingered with him. 11 years old, five years from becoming a young adult, and he was abandoned, out in the open sea. Each time Rin met Mephisto’s gaze he couldn’t but see the last glance Mephisto provided him those ten years ago. 

The last day on the ship, it was like any other, a normal day out on the open ocean. Just another day on a ship, another day in his heaven, only to be thrown from the safe place he grew to love.

Rin had been forced to move on, to live on, and grow all on his own, he had the family of mers but they didn’t understand him. It seemed only Mephisto and Amaimon could truly understand, understand the life he had…

Then again the two elder Sirens knew so much about themselves, they knew so much about him and mating seasons… Maybe it wouldn’t be so bad, maybe finding a forever mate just off the bat was rather childish. After all, Sirens were different from Mers so maybe it was better he didn’t things do according to Mer tradition.

“I am willing to consider you as my mate if,” Rin began softly.

“If?” Mephisto purred, raising an eyebrow.

“You have to promise to not hurt me or take advantage of me if I am to consider trusting you. I need your solum word that you will not harm me in my weakest state,” Rin replied. 

“Very well,” 

~~

Rin exited the office, at Mephisto’s side. Amaimon was the first to take the younger siren away from Mephisto, leaving the captain on the upper deck as he dragged his old student down to the kitchen.

“You are acting weird, did he hurt you?” Amaimon asked, scanning the younger being for a single bruise or cut. If his eyes caught a drop of blood on RIn, Amaimon would be sure to repay the pain tenfold.

“No, he didn’t hurt me…. So could you introduce me to the new crew members?” Rin asked, with a sheepish smile.

“Rin, what did you talk about?”

“I…. He wanted to consider us being mates. For the longest time, I was thinking of saving myself for a long term mate, it’s just going to take me a while to get rid of the mentality I held on to for so long,” 

“I see, if it makes you any better he most often does not have short term mates, of course, has affairs occasionally, but for the mating season he almost always tries to find a long term mate, over the past few years he has been unsuccessful but maybe you will be the one to change that,” Amaimon hummed looking over to the oak tables, they were one of the only things that stayed the same over past decade…. Still old, still sturdy and blocky.

“We have had quite the change in cast, most of them are boring and you wouldn’t find them entertaining… but there are a few you may find interest in,” Amaimon hummed, grabbing Rin’s hand. “I will take you to them,”

Rin was quick to keep up, oddly enough he did not mind the small embrace. Hand holding was so trivial to him, being led like a child would normally upset him, but this was different. It was a good difference, something Rin had been lacking and he did not despise the small act of affection.

Soon, Rin was pulled into another room, this one he did not recognize, the walls were bright shiny pink, almost glittering in the orange light put off by the light fixture in the middle of the cabin. It was simple, lacking any complicated furniture but the floor had a few small simply made wooden toys scattered across the floor. Part of the wooden floor was covered by a small pink rug, only seeming to difference the room further from the rest of the ship.

“What is this place?” Rin cooed in courtesy, gazing around the room in horror. He knew Mephisto was bad at interior decorating but this much pink was horrendous.

“The nursery, we keep finding more and more pups on the hunter ships, it’s good for us to know it's getting harder for them to subdue adults but the children are often left traumatized,” Amaimon replied, his lip curved up as he pushed down a snarl.

“No, they aren’t getting weaker, just a month or so ago I attacked a collector ship, they seemed to have an upgraded weapons source, they are targeting pups… They are more than capable than attacking adults,” Rin argued, recalling his dreadful run-in with the fresh metallic weapons.

“I would have agreed with you if I hadn’t read their logs. On their casual ships, they have downgraded a significant amount of their weapons. It got too expensive to carry on so they will attack nests and catch the pups because they are unable to stop the parents. I think I have seen an increased number of wreckages about the ocean. The nests are fighting back, with deadly forces at that,” Amaimon added looking around the room, trying to find what Rin found so blasphemous about the design.

“So they must have made a bad economic decision and they are reaping the consequences,” Rin chirped in response.

“That could be the case, but it seems that they are trying to get rid of their smaller ships… They may be planning to overtake Mephisto's and Lucifer’s fleets. It’s a stupid idea but the hunters have never been smart with their decisions,” Amaimon scoffed, he couldn’t even benign to count the number of hunter lives he took over their stupidity. 

“Or maybe not, it doesn’t make sense why they would upgrade some ships and not others, after all, more bullets can always beat one bullet, so why would they put all the eggs in one basket? It is very unlike them… However collecting pups to recruit to their cause on the other hand,” Rin pondered.

“What are you suggesting?” Amaimon purred, buying into the twisted possibility Rin was idealizing.

“When they first caught me they talked about saving me for their leader. It could be just because I was pretty so they thought I would sell well, but what if they were giving the stronger pups to their leader, just so he could brainwash and groom them to follow after him?” That day was already fuzzy but it was always small details he always remembered. 

The face of the captain, the taste of blood in his mouth, the carved double A on the holsters on each of the swords holsters, were just a few of the things that could never seem to leave.

“That could be a possibility, but we can’t go off a theory. We would need sounder proof, besides I doubt that would matter, all we need to do is save the pups. It is up to Lucifer and Samael how they take down the hunter union,” Amaimon huffed, ending the conversation quickly.

“I guess so,” Rin muttered looking down at the carpeted floor… the info he had must have been more valuable at an earlier time...

“Amaimon what are you doing down here?” A girl asked, walking out from a door hidden within the pink walls. She was rather short, and not overly pretty though there were some attractive features to her. Rin first noticed her green eyes, bright and wide they held joy and a steady calmness within them. Next was the hair, the girl had short blonde hair that was about an inch from her shoulders, even though it was cut unevenly it still looked good. “Have you come to help with the pups?”

“No, I have come to introduce you to Rin, he was the Siren who was rescued as a pup. The one I was telling you about when you started at the nursery,”

“No way!” The girl gasped in exasperation, her green eyes swayed over Rin as she looked him up and down. “I thought you said he wasn’t going to come back?”

“I didn’t think I was going to be back either, but I am going to be staying around for a while. I have hitched a ride with you to the gathering,” Rin replied, his nervous smile quivered as he tried to say things to say next, he was helpless when it came to starting up a conversation with those out of water.

“Are you going to be staying after that? If you are, could you consider helping with the pups?”

“Shiemi, I didn’t bring him so you could recruit him, he is simply here to meet you and answer a few questions. Both the captain and I have plans with him,” Amaimon growled redirected the conversation.

“Fine,” Shiemi sighed, looking almost depressed as she looked back up to Rin, though her cheery expression appeared once more. “So Rin how have you been,”

“That's a rather complex question to answer,” Rin laughed nervously as he thought of the words to explain all the hardships he had endured living without the guidance of another siren. “It’ s been weird,”

“Have you found a mate?”

“And I think that enough questions,” Amaimon growled, keeping the questions to progress passed Rin’s comfort zone. 

“Shiemi, who are you talking to we have a job to do!” Another girl snapped appearing from the same door Sheimi had entered. 

“This Rin he came back to the ship!”

“The siren pup they rescued a decade ago?” 

“Yeah, he is back!”

“Hi,” Rin said nervously adding into the conversation.

“Hello, my name is Izumo,” The girl said bowing her head softly, the purple lengths of hair she had tried up in ponytails fell as she paid her respects. “If it’s alright with you, could I ask you a few questions about how you got over it all? My sister and I were captured from our mother five years ago and my sister has had a hard time dealing with the memory of it all. I don’t know how to help her with it,”

“Of course, could you show me to her?”

“Yes right this way,” Izumo said, leading the Siren through the vibrant door. 

“So he seems rather nice,” Shiemi giggled, her fangs peeking out from her lips.

“Just because you are from Mer royalty does not mean you get to have Rin,” Amaimon growled, baring his fangs as a warning to the Mer.

“I’m not saying for me, it is rather odd that we just so happened to run into him so close to the gathering. It could just be a coincidence. The universe works in a funny way,” Shiemi sighed. “Have you found a mate yet?”

“We haven’t even gotten to the gathering yet, but don’t worry if I can't find anyone I will take you as my mate,” Amaimon replied looking away from the Mer.

“Seriously even after all I have done to get Izumo to like you!” Shiemi snapped at the Siren.

“I don’t want her, she is too,” Amaimon began only to recoil his words.

“Too what?” Shiemi asked. “What is wrong with her?”

“She is too worried about her sister and on top of that she isn’t my type,” Amaimon snarled, leaning against the wall.

“So you have a type now?” 

“Not really, but I know she isn’t my type,”

~~

“Tsukumo, this is Rin he has come to talk with you,”

“Why?” Tsukumo whimpered, her back pushing against the wall. She seemed so small, easily breakable like a thin sheet of glass just hanging over a building, so many things have gone wrong to get in this situation but it would only take one more thing.

One more hurtful word.

One more aggressive action.

And she would shatter. 

“Your sister told me you’re not having nice dreams, or sleeping well. You can’t feel safe even on this ship correct?” Rin said, kneeling to meet the girls’ eyes level. 

Tsukumo nodded softly in response. “I keep seeing them, they won’t go away not even in my dreams,”

“I see, what if I made you a protection charm?”

“What's that?” 

“It’s a charm from the sea, it will provide protection to those who need it the most, would you like one?” 

“Yes,”

Rin smiled at the reaction and stood, only then did he get a chance to look around the room. Five cradles and three beds were scattered across the floor, the room itself was a very dull and soft pink giving the entire room a sober tone, but at least it was relaxing.

Rin was first to leave the room, and Izumo swiftly followed after him. 

“I don’t mean to be rude but how is a charm going to help her?” Izumo asked, once out of earshot of the girl.

“The abuse on the ships are mainly physical. She is afraid of being hurt again because she doesn't have a physical thing to protect herself with. When I first got rescued I slept in the same room as the captain, if I woke up from a nightmare I could just look up and see the captain. He was a safety net for me, I felt that as long as he was there with me nothing bad could happen to me. So a safety charm for her would be an element of protection she could cling to,” Rin replied looking to Izumo. 

“I guess I see your reasoning,” Izumo muttered softly. “So what are you going to give her?”

“Oh just whatever I can find, I am thinking of finding a piece of dead coral,” Rin began. “Speaking of which, how are you feeling? I have a feeling things weren’t nice for you on the hunter ship either,”

“It was a challenge but I have moved on. Life is full of challenges and that was just one of mine”


	7. oOh boy

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> bloody, blood, blood, and murder. Also, Rin is tired.

Walking to the upper deck Rin couldn’t help but feel mesmerized. He had run up the stairs so many times, running from Amaimon, or running to bother Mephisto… He fell sometimes but that was only sometimes.

“So, how are you feeling?” Amaimon asked, he seemed to be oddly quiet, and his postured present submission…

It was bizarre to see him like this, never had the elder Siren show so much hesitance before.

“I am feeling a bit better, thank you for showing me around the ship,” RIn soothed in response, a smile flashing across his face.

But a thought kept plaguing the younger siren’s mind. Mephisto wanted to be his mate. Rin indeed was an adult so there wasn’t a problem with it. Just the fact that the first time they met up again, the first topic that came up was mating. 

Then again isn’t that how every interaction with another adult siren went? It would only be normal for them to bring up the topic of mating when the mating season was just around the corner, but it still was rather bizarre.

Dread soon did arise as well, if Mephisto was going to the gathering then wouldn’t Lucifer be going as well? The last few interactions he had with the blonde Siren hadn’t been too professional, to say the least.

“Are you sure you look rather nervous?” Amaimon scoffed in response, his tone relaxed.

“Well if I do recall correctly Lucier will be attending the gathering as well, and we haven’t had the best interactions, to say the least,”

“You have met Lucifer before?” Amaimon purred in curiosity, leading Rin to the railing.

“Met him, tormented him, maybe stole a few things,” Rin squeaked, his anxiety growing as the other siren’s lisp formed a cruel smirk.

“You are really in for it,” Amaimon leaned against the railing smugly. “How many things did you steal?”

“Nothing to big, maybe just a feather, and a ring,”

“You stole Lucifer’s feather?”

“The one that was on his hat yeah,”

“You are lying there is no way,”

“Shima was being recruited and Lucifer came to see first hand his abilities, he was given three tasks and the family introduced me to Lucifer. He didn’t believe that I had raided hunter ships so he gave me the task of stealing the feather from his hat. Well, I did, and I ran off to my den and hid from his sirens when they tried to retrieve it… Then a few years later when scouting, I saw them nearby so I snuck into the ship and stole one of Lucifer’s rings. I didn’t get caught but left behind a few of my head scales,”

“I can’t see how you got away with those,”

“I am fast and my den is impossible to find unless you know where to look, and even then it is hard to get in, then it is hard to find the right cave,” RIn purred happily. 

“It seems you have had plenty of free time over the years,” 

“He underestimated me, and he paid the price,” Rin scoffed in response.

“WHo underestimated you?” Mephisto cooed as he approached the two Sirens. 

“Rin was just boasting about how he stole Lucifer’s hat feather and got away with it,” Amaimon retorted, snorting at the very notion.

“Well that would explain why he stopped wearing his original captain hat,” Mephisto pondered

“Amaimon thinks I am lying about my victory,” Rin added belittling Amaimon doubt.

“Well, I suppose we will just have to ask Lucifer,” Mpehisot added, pointing to the horizon. “He should be arriving in a few minutes,”

“Are you sure it would be a good idea for us to meet face to face? He isn't that happy with me after all,” Rin inquired, his shoulders retracting as his eyes darted to Mephisto.

“There is no need to be nervous RIn, Lucifer is rather rational to these things, besides, he was the one who challenged you,” The elder siren was able to provide peace for Rin in his words. Then again Samael had been oddly comforting.

Lucifer wouldn’t be a problem as long as Mephisto was around right? Rin supposed he would have to figure that out for himself.

“All crew to station’s prepare to dock,” The sharp words of the conductors sounded over the crowd of cremates gathered on the top deck, people began to scatter to their podiums on the ship as they prepared for the Dominus Liminis to dock. Oddly enough, the ship seemed to be bigger than the last one Rin was familiar with. 

“Well if it alright with you, I would suggest we take refuge in my quarters, just until the ship has been properly secured,” Mephisto hummed walking to his office. 

“Of course,” Rin replied, with Amaimon trailing after.

“Samael, why are we docking here, shouldn’t we wait until we reach the gathering?” Amaimon asked, still at the tail of the trio.

“Did you not look underwater? We are at the gathering, once the ships are secured the two of you are free to mingle with the other sirens.”

“If it’s alright with you I would wish to stay on deck as long as you are here,” Rin stepped closer to Mephisto.

“It’s alright with me,” Mephisto purred in response. “So Amaimon, does this mean you will stay on deck as well?”

“I don’t see why not,” Amaimon huffed in response. 

“Well, I shouldn’t keep us for too long,” Mephisto hummed. “If anything the boarding process should be the longest part of this encounter,” 

“Samael are you going to keep hiding from me or are we going to discuss our plans?” 

“Well, he got here rather quickly,” Mephisto hissed walking over to the door.

“I just teleported over, my crew is still docking next to yours,” Mephisto slid the door open and allowed the other siren in.

Rin froze at the sight of Lucifer, this was sure to be awkward.

“Well it certainly has been a while since I have made your acquaintance,” Lucifer cooed brushing past Mephisto and walking straight over to Rin.

“Hi,” Rin backed up as Lucifer approached, trying to find something to hide behind. 

“Why so skittish?” Lucifer followed Rins steps, matching him beat for beat. Rin would trap himself against a wall at this rate, it would be fun to see the siren run himself into a corner.

“So I take it you don’t miss your feather?” Rin retorted, getting a burst of confidence as he spoke. “Or do you just not care about it?”

“I was wrong with underestimating you, so the feather is rightfully yours, the ring however I would like back,” Lucifer huffed.  
“What ring?” Rin stopped his retreat and stood his ground, he tried to feign confidence to ward off any unwanted suspension.

“The ring you stole from me, I want it back,”

“I am sure I would remember if I took a ring from you, could you describe it?” Rin asked, his bottom lip poking out as he looked as innocent as he could manage.

“I think it is time we do discuss our plans, Rin, Amaimon, it would be best if you joined the other sirens at the gathering for the time being,” Mephisto growled interrupting the two opposing forces. 

“Alright,” Rin replied, leaving the sirens.

The door shut softly behind Amaimon and Rin.

“He really is something isn’t he?” Mephisto sighed. “So how are your northern fleets?”

“My entire fleet, in all corners of the world, are unchallenged, the main channels and currents have seen little to no activity from the hunters, we have been stockpiling and running a successful business economy for some time now. I do believe the hunters may be planning an attack but were delayed,” Lucifer hummed, taking his place across the desk.

“I see, well that is good news on your behalf,” Mephisto stuttered quietly.

“I heard of Abel’s betrayal, if I do recall it was on his late brother’s birthday. How are you holding up?” Lucifer inquired. 

“My fleets recovered from his attack. I have already put three more ships in the water to replace his contributions, though I do fear his intell may give away too much to the hunters, they now know all of our docking patterns and patrolling records. Though over the past few years I have been giving him falsified information and all records in his ship are counterfeit,” Mephisto put on a professional scheme, losing all tone to his voice. After all, this was a business matter, he had no attachments to that monster…

“I am not talking about your ships, I know well enough from Shima you recovered. I am talking about you, how are you holding up amongst all of this?” Lucifer snuffed out the indifference and went straight to the core of the younger siren. 

“How do you suppose I should feel? I had a suspension of it for years now, he just confirmed it,”

“You are bad at opening up,” Lucifer huffed in annoyance. “So what do you suspect is next on the hunter’s agenda?”

“I have a feeling there are species amongst the gathering, so be hasty with you pick as your mate. But in truth it doesn't matter what they are planning, I already have captured one of their communicating ships. I have found their main base of operations,”

“So it is safe to assume that we should stay close together after all the attacks should be getting more violent now that know we know of their plans,”

“Ah but that's the thing, they didn’t get any distress signals from the ship. It simply was missing in action,”

“How were you able to manage this?” 

“I may have called in a small favor,” Mephisto purred happily in response.

“Well, it seems our business is organizing itself,” Lucifer purred happily. “I assume you fill me in on the details once you have secured a mate?”

“Indeed,” Mephisto hummed, feeling pleased with the conversation he had indulged in thus far. 

“So I do believe it is time to discuss that shimmering jewel you were hosting,”

“Meaning what exactly?” Mephisto froze as he pondered what the weight of Lucifer's words were.

Was he planning to court Rin as well? Or were the elder siren's plans more sinister than that? Did Lucier plan to take revenge on Rin, then again it was slightly deserved…

“I want Rin as my mate,” Lucifer replied, not coating his intent with any deceit.

His motives were clear, or clear on the outside, he still could have plans for Rin. Then angina, why would he lie about wishing such a precious thing to be his? Mephisto shared the same desire as him so there was no reason to shield his intent. 

“Well, it seems we have reached an impasse. I was planning to court him as well,” Mephisto was slightly enraged by the suggestion, Lucifer wishes Rin to be his? How preposterous!

“Would you be opposed to sharing?” Lucifer groaned softly.

“YES”

“Fine, since you are so passionate I suppose can let you have him, only if you share him for one mating season,”

“If he agrees to it then I will allow it but I will not force him into anything,” Mephisto huffed.  
“Well, that is rather noble of you,” 

“Shut up,” 

“No,”

~  
Rin stood at the edge of the boat, looking at the water below. The seafloor was easily viewed but at the same time, it looked so deep. 

“Well, are you ready?” Amaimon tapped Rin’s shoulder. “You are acting weird,”

“Oh yeah, sorry,” Rin shivered as he looked to Amaimon. “It just looks weird, benign able to see so deep into the sea from here,”

“Is that all?” 

“Well yeah,”

Amaimon at the reply shoved Rin off the boat and watched with a smirk as he fell. Rin, when he hit the water quickly transformed into his true form. He was unhappy at the shove but it was a bit deserved. The silver-ish siren had been delaying his arrival, he truly did not know what to expect.

All eyes snapped to the Siren, it didn’t help that his tail shimmered like a precious metal lost in the day. Or that is his tail was oddly long for his age, and thin although it was very muscular. Rin held years of youth in his eyes, he looked so out of place in the ocean.

Amaimon swam up next to Rin, only drawing more attention.

“Are you going or not?” Amaimon huffed.

Rin snapped out of his daze and followed the elder Siren down to the crowd of sirens. Dozens of colors sparkled across the seafloor, it was a shining mass of colors, with the paler most pastel tails and fins sparkling brighter than the darker colors. 

Though each and every tail had a unique color that popped against the sand, all the tails were bright and looked aline against the calm sandy tones of the surrounding sea.

A soft murmur was all Rin got for a greeting, had he done something wrong? 

“It’s alright Rin, you just stand out, most sirens don’t have a solid tail color and if they do they almost never have such a light color,” Amaimon hummed to the Siren. 

“I guess… something just feels off, did I do something wrong?”

“Yes and no, every new thing is a bit nerve-wracking, most sirens also don’t show their nervousness so heavily, so you stood out but your introduction could have been a lot worse,” 

Amaimon slid past Rin and perched upon the rock in the middle of the gathering, his gaze pierced through the crowd trying to find any disturbances or brewing fights. Leaving Rin, to navigate the gathering all on his own.

“Hey, I didn’t think I would be seeing you again,” A familiar voice cooed, it was the same light-spotted Siren from before. Although this time, he seemed to be better groomed, or at least his scales seemed to sparkle just a bit brighter.

“I can say the same thing, though a familiar face is a nice surprise,” Rin giggled in response.

“You had quite the introduction, entering with a royal Siren,” The spotted siren added.

“Royal Siren?” Rin questioned in response. 

“Amaimon comes from a royal descent, he is one of the few pure-blooded alpha Sirens. He is a relic from an older time, and his magic backs up his ageless abilities. It would take thousands of years to get as strong as him, so there is little anyone can do to defeat or dethrone him,” Gri replied.

“Really? But he is just Amaimon,” Rin replied, in oblivion.

The other siren froze at the nonchalant tone Rin’s voice held. 

“Can’t you feel his power?” Gri asked in shock.

“No,”

“Hm, that's odd… well moving on have you found a mate yet?”

“I have someone that I am considering,” Rin sighed. “But no one I am dead set on,”

“Well you are already further ahead than me, I don’t even think I dare to ask anyone. I know they all are here to have mates but I don’t want to intrude or overstep,” Gri whined. “So who are you considering?”

Just then the water shook as two snarling sirens entered, claws enchanted the battled against one another. 

Crimson filled the water as shock rolled over the crowd.

“What is going on?”

“Who is fighting?”

“Aren’t one of the royals going to step in?”

“SAMAEL, LUCIFER STOP IT NOW,” Amaimon barked at the elder Sirens, swimming to where the two battled. “We are at a gathering should the two of you be on better behavior?”

“Not until he gives it back!” Lucifer growled.

“Never,” Samael hissed, his pupils sharpening with cruel amusement.

“Just as I thought, he is still as mature as a five-year-old,” Rin retorted looking back over to Gri. “I don’t understand why you consider them royalty, if anything they are glorified adults with the minds of children,”

Gri was enamored with sheer befuddlement of the other siren’s statement.

“Wait. Is one of them, the Siren you are considering?” Gri asked, phrasing his words slowly and carefully.

“Maybe not if he keeps fighting like this,” Rin mumbled, his fangs nipping his lip as they extended. 

“See, he doesn't even like you, therefore he is mine,” Lucifer purred, pride overtaking him.

“Bullshit, I saw him first,”

“I don’t belong to either of you assholes,” Rin nails sharpened as his eyes glowed in his anger. The two were benign rather disruptive, and Amaimon was hopeless as he tried to stop the fight.

The two continued to rip at each other's skin and soft tissue. It would most likely end in more blood than would ever be welcome at a gathering, and a settlement, that was if no one stepped in.

“If the two of you don’t stop, I will just take Amiamon as my mate,” Rin threatened, stopping bother Sirens in their tracks. The two backed away from each other and put away their claws and fangs, only sharing a few sharp snarls as they departed. 

~~  
Samael swam proudly along with Amaimon. “I still have it,”

“What was the scene worth Samael?” Amaimon growled, being in no mood to further deal or handle his elder brother’s antics.

“Lucifer’s golden pendant,”

“Why am I not surprised?”

“I am going to go give it to Rin,”

“Oh my poor brother, it seems your mind is slipping with your age,”

“Watch your tongue,” 

“I don’t think that is possible. Tongues are a very hard thing to look at,”

~~  
“You do have a point, but their power still calls for a level of respect,” Gri replied.

“I suppose so, but they don’t seem so threatening to me,” Rin huffed.

“You are more used to Samael’s power since you have been around him longer and you have practiced with him,” Lucifer hummed swimming up next to Rin.

“But still, I should have felt something when I first met him,” 

“You are a very powerful Siren Rin, I could tell since the very first moment I met you,” Mephisto appeared, nuzzling up to Rin, right across from where Lucifer lay.

“Samael, give me my pendant back,”

“No, I am giving it to Rin,”

“I don’t want a stupid pendant, you are both acting like children,” 

“It is not some stupid pendant,” Lucifer whined. “It’s been in my possession for hundreds of years now, it was first gifted to me by one of my early mates, they were the first mate I liked. It holds part of my memories of them,”

At the tale, Rin’s heart melted softly, who would have thought Lucifer held onto a previous gift for so long.

“Liar you kept the pendant because you thought it was pretty,” Mephisto snorted at the sob story. “Lying isn’t going to get you to win over Rin,”

“You have no idea why I kept it, stop assuming you know everything about me,”

“I thought I had told the two of you to stop fighting,” Rin growled, growing frustrated once again. “Where did Gri go?”

“Oh, he slipped away a few minutes ago,” Lucifer replied.

“I see,” Rin pondered. 

“So Samael, about the pendant,”

“Since Rin doesn't want it I suppose you can have it back,” Samael replied lazily tossing the golden locket over to the other Siren.

“Thank you,”

“So… what happens now?” Rin asked, looking around the gathering. All the sirens seemed to draw back from all the shock of the situation.

“We fight for your mating right!” Samael said happily.

“No more fighting,”

“Not like physical fighting, it’s more of a competition between the two of us, the winner gets to have your first mating season and the loser has to find someone else to mate,” Lucifer clarified. 

“Well you are both losing so you better get to work,” Rin added with a smirk.

Lucifer and Samael snapped into action and began dragging Rin away from the gathering. 

“Then I suppose we have a few things to show you,” Samael purred.

~~~

Over the next few grueling hours the two desperately tried to win over Rin’s affection with their various gifts and magical abilities. Rin found it cute but neither demon king seemed to strike his affection. Night fell over the gathering as most went to rest their heads for a night of delicate sleep.

Rin however had a creeping feeling something was amiss he laid awake against the pale sand. Azazel, one of the royal Sirens was watching over the gathering as they slept, both Lucifer and Samael slept by Rin's side and yet he felt odd.

Rin slid out from the two sirens and under the cover of night tried to sneak away. He needed to get back to the Mer nest, he just needed to see them.

“Rin where are you going?” Azael asked softly, swimming next to the Siren.

“I need to get back to my friends. I just have this bad feeling that they are in danger,” Rin replied with a sigh. 

“I see, should I inform Samael of your decision?”

“If he asks you can tell him,” Rin replied, counting his path through the clear cold waters.

~~

Rin couldn’t help but fearing the worse as he tracked through the calm domain, he kept a steady speed not wishing to rest for a moment as he swam to his home. The waters were foreign but his heart led him through the new domain.

Ten years, ten years he had spent by their side. Hunting, growing, talking, he knew he didn’t belong but it was still nice to have a pack to look after. Someone to rely on and trust.

The pack needed him, so why would he leave them to fend for themselves for too long. It was just cruel to abandon them, he needed to find a mate and he found one, Samael would suffice for the mating season then after that he could start looking for a real mate.

But at the movement he didn’t have time to think of mates or his future, he just needed to keep his present safe. His pack, the pack of mers that he guarded and protected for so long… He needed to protect them.

He could feel his energy slipping as he swam, but it didn’t matter he needed to get to the nest and fast. He could always regain his energy, but he could never regain time.

Approaching the nest his worst fears were confirmed. 

An orange glow lit the water, illuminating the destroyed nest. 

The rock had been ripped from the sea and scattered about, scorched marks covered the entrance.

The scent of blood lingered in the sea, not the satisfying scent of fish blood. But the blood of mers.

Rin rose to the surface quickly, making no attention fall upon him. He could hear the cries of the hatchlings on the ship, smell the blood, and feel the fear.

No one knew what to expect on a hunter ship, because no one survived to warn others… Expect a certain few, but they almost never found the courage to tell others about all the horrors…

Rin carefully slid back under the water and began to survey the sirens that lay undisturbed on the seafloor. Six sirens, all had a yellowish tail, they must have been part of the same family…

Rin snapped into action, tearing the throat out of the largest Siren. 

He would be lying if he said the sight of the tendons didn’t make him fill with glee. Only a few of the Sirens were stirred by the blood. 

But two sirens Rin could easily handle…

By the time the rest had awoken it was already too late to call out for help.

They were either already dead, or they were bleeding out.

Seeing the SIren’s eyes flash open in shock and horror, only to see the life durian from them was another thing Rin wouldn’t think he would find joy in.

Nonetheless, these Sirens had hurt his pack, they deserved hell. 

Once the SIrens were disposed of he peeked his head up out of the water. Listing to the white noise chatter of the crewmates he could almost pinpoint where everyone was in the boat.

The majority of the crew was on the top deck, cheering about winning or something. Three or maybe four workers were getting ready to tag their new prey, and most all of the Mers were locked in cages.

Rin dipped back under the water and swam to the very bottom finding the anchor and digging up some of the sand it was buried in. 

Capsizing a ship was always a process.

Now for the fun step.

Rin sped to the surface and launched himself onto the main mass, causing the ship to lean almost as if it was falling.

The crew readily ran to the other side of the ship to stabilize it. They were prepared for this.

Rin jumped down to the leaning side and with extra momentum, the ship slipped over. Causing the crewmates to fall into the water.

Rin’s lisp drew into a smile as he swam to the ship door, between the ocean predators and other unruly ocean habits the crew would be done away with.

Rin ripped through the wooden door and swam down the hall as water flooded the room. He quickly arrived at the cell and began undoing the locks with his claws. 

Rin could not hide his relief and joy when he saw the pack untagged, they were safe…

But where was Bon?

“Rin they took Bon,” Koneko said in a rush as Rin undid the lock.

“Does anyone else here know how to undo these locks?” Rin asked, moving his head around the ship.

Everyone stayed silent as hope began to fade, the longer Bon was left alone the more dangerous it was for him. 

“I do” Shima chirped swimming through the broken door.

“Get everyone out I am going to go find Bon,” Rin replied, swimming further down the ship. They always tagged Mers on the bottom floor, it was the hardest to get to and muffled the screams.

Rin froze as he approached the door, something wasn’t right… There was no light coming out of this room, there was no trace of fresh blood…

Swimming closer to the door the feeling only increased. Rin placed his hand on the door and listening closely to the inside.

“RIN DON’T GO IN THERE,” Bon growled following after RIn.

The Siren’s head snapped as Bon spoke and that was when the door snapped in half, giving way to dark purple scales claws.

Rin was able to narrowly avoid the claws as he darted up the hallway, trying to escape whatever was coming after him. 

The thing followed after him, chasing him down the narrow hallway and Bon seemed to disappear from the hall, it was odd but Rin didn’t have time to question it.

By now he was running solely on panic, if he stopped even for a second he may not be able to get back up until he has recharged and he couldn’t let that happen.

All the cells were empty, normally he would have been concerned at the sight, empty cells meant dead Mers but this was one of the rare occasions where it was odd to see a lack of life...

Rin felt an air of safety once he swam through the broken door, though he did not stop swimming.

A snarl ripped through the water and Rin finally stopped, landing in soft pale sand as he no longer had the energy to swim.

Amaimon came to Rin’s side and rested next to the Siren, guarding him against further danger.

“Amaimon?” Rin choked out a question. 

What on earth was he doing here? Shouldn't he be back at the gathering?

“Yes, Rin?” Amaimon replied simply.

“Why.. ar… yu. here?” Rin could only murmur his words, as his chest heaved.

“When you left Samael and Lucifer both woke up, all of us got a bad feeling and decided to relocate the gathering. Since it was so close by we decided to move it here. Just as we were leaving, hunter ships approached, and they were armed to attack. They did last long against all of us, but the majority of the gathering is still arriving. Samael and I saw your predicament and decided to swim head,” Amaimon explained, relying on the story he had experienced. 

Soon the scent hit, blood filled the water and a sharp yelp signified surrender. 

“It looks like Samael won,” Amiamon hummed looking at the drawn-out claw marks on the dark purple creature.

Rin through his hazy vision was able to see the attacker pinned beneath Mephisto’s fangs and claws… it looked familiar.

“How is he?” Lucifer asked swimming up to Amaimon.

“He seems uninjured but tired,” Amaimon hummed looking to Rin.

“I see. So how is the Mer family?” Lucifer asked.

“None of them were tagged but a few are shaken,” 

And that was the last thing Rin remembered before drifting off to sleep...


	8. fluff chapter

Rin awoke to a soft chatter and the familiar feeling of being rocked by the waves… The fresh air was carried around the room as birds chirped happily, bathing in the sunlight.

“Thank you, Lucifer for allowing us to take shelter in your ship,”

“Of course, the faster we can get the hunter’s diminished the sooner we can settle down with our chosen mates,” 

Rin whined softly as he tried to push himself out of the bed, only to be tucked back down into the bed. 

“Rin you need to rest, you overworked yourself,” Mephisto murmured softly keeping Rin on the bed.

“No,” Rin huffed trying to get up. “I am not sleepy,”

“I don’t care, just rest, you need it,”

“But I am not going to go back to sleep,”

“You don’t have to. Just stay in bed,” Mephisto cooed.

“But I don’t want to,”

“Too bad,”

“Meanie,” Rin growled, cracking open his eyes.

“Now that is just mean Rin, especially after I saved you,” Mephisto soothed.

“About that, who did you fight?” Rin tried to sit up once again, but to no avail, as he yelped and sunk back into the bed.

Why did he hurt so much? He had attacked ships before so what difference is there now?

“Rin don’t worry about that, just rest. You still need to recover. You pushed yourself far too hard, and if you want to be well enough to be part of the attack on the hunters then you need to take today and tomorrow to fully heal,” Mephisto replied.

“But sitting here doing nothing is boring,” Rin whined.   
“I know, that’s why Amaimon is going to keep you company,” 

“On second thought I may be better off alone,”

“Hey,” Amaimon snapped from the corner of the room.

“Do you need anything, I could get you some water or food,” Samael ignored the scoff and kept his attention fixated on Rin

“I am not that hungry,” Rin replied softly. “Water sounds nice,”

“I will be back soon Rin,” Mephisto cooed to Rin proving him a small kiss on the forehead before taking his leave. “and Amaimon do play nice, I wouldn’t want another siren out of commission before the fight,”

The younger SIrens shivered at the threat as the elder SIrens left.

“So what happened after I fell asleep?” Rin asked, turning his head to face Amaimon.

“Mephisto took your attacker and made sure he wouldn’t be a problem, then he started planning with Lucifer and they decided to attack the hunters once and for all before the mating season begins,” Amaimon replied. “So nothing much,”

“Ok… why did he kiss me?” Rin coughed, a blush running across his face. The small Siren almost looked feverish.

“Surely he won you over by protecting you and coming to your rescue. And you didn’t seem to mind it that much,”

“I don't. I just want to know if there was any conversation about it. It doesn’t seem like Lucifer to let go of something so easily,”

“He is still upset, I think, but Mephisto has shown his willingness and stubbornness. There is no point in trying to compete with him when he is like that,” 

“And why is he like that,” Rin yawned nuzzling against the pillow. “Obsession isn’t that attractive,”

“It’s more of dedication… Besides, he truly does like you. I don’t think he is going to let you go after this mating season,” Amaimon replied, laying his head on the cream sheets. The pale covers crumpled under the new weight put on them.

“What about my heart belonging to the sea? Or is he just going to ignore his own excuse?” Rin scoffed.

“That was for your growth and development, you are now fully grown so you don’t need to rely on the sea to build you,” Amaimon yawned. “Besides you could still live in the sea, and Mephisto could come to visit you,”

“I hope you weren’t too bothered without me Rin,” Mephisto purred happily entering the room.

“No, in fact, I think Amaimon is better company than I gave him credit,” Rin purred, seduction lacing his voice, thoroughly confusing Amaimon.

“Did anything occur while I was gone?” Mephisto's eyes filled with a cruel denier as he looked over to Amaimon.

“No, I was just seeing how obsessive you really are,” Rin scoffed in response. “And I got my answer,”

“dedication, not an obsession,” Amaimon corrected with a sigh.

“Still did you see how jealous he got?” Rin snickered.

“I don’t think I should give you your glass of water if that's how you are going to act,” Mephisto huffed, sending a glare over to Rin.

“I was just testing the waters, after all, I haven't had a mate before, I should at least have an idea of what you will be like,” Rin shifted, sending an innocent smile over his shoulder as he gazed lovingly back at the glare.

“You really are something,” Mephisto hummed walking to Rin’s side and offering up the glass.

Rin slowly was able to push himself off the bed and take the glass of water. 

The water was cold, clear, and clean. It was so pure, there was no taste other than a frigid temperature. Rin nearly gagged as the shock factor of the cooler temperature set in. The water was refreshing but it burned his throat at the same time. How long had he been out of water?

In desperation, Rin finished the entire glass in a single breath not wishing to relive the experience.

“Did you almost choke?” Amaimon laughed at the younger being. 

“Rin, you know you can drink it in sips right?” Mephisto seemed to be a mix of disappointed and unsurprised at the action.

“It felt weird. I didn’t like it so I didn’t want to go through that again,” Rin huffed setting the glass down. “It was too cold,”

“You could have waited till it warmed up,”

“Waiting is dumb,”

“Impatient as ever,” Mephisto added, a taunting smirk appearing simply, just to bother the younger Siren.

“Well, at least I stay in bed,”

~~~

Bed rest, although boring beyond comprehension did prove successful. Rin was more than healed by the time the third day rolled around. When dawn cracked Rin did not waste a second leaving the bed and stretching the legs he had left stationary for so long. 

“Well good morning, Rin… well you seem ready for the day,” Mephisto entered the room, and air joy spread around the room as the two sirens shared a small smile.

“Yup, so when are we going to arrive at this hunter store wear-house thing?” 

“We are on schedule to arrive by this evening so I would suggest if you are going to practice do it now, noon will be a good time to rest and store up on energy, we will need as much as we have for the attack,” 

Rin nodded as he brushed past Mephisto as he took his leave out of the room he had been imprisoned in for so long. Mephisto was practically disgruntled by the lack of interest Rin had held for him. The noble siren was more than a messenger boy, he should at least get some gratitude for his action! He was a king for heaven’s sake, and he couldn't even get a mere thank you? 

Amaimon followed after Rin as they approached the edge of the ship. 

“Nervous?”

“Well, it’s just the last time I was near the edge of a ship it was the last time I saw you all for ten years,”

“You do have a point,” Amaimon stepped over the railing and held on lightly. “I will go first,”

Rin, simply smiled. 

Falling through the air was odd, and it took a few seconds to comprehend what had just happened. Amaimon felt the sting of betrayal as he hit the water. His startled eyes reflected the cruel smirk Rin had fixed on his face. Transforming and waiting in the water it finally snapped together.

“You bitch,” Amaimon snapped crawling to the surface.

Rin’s shrill laughter ripped through the air as he marveled at his work. “Why’d you slip?”

“You dick head! you pushed me!”

“You can't prove that,”

“What's all this commotion?” Lucifer sighed appearing by Rin’s side.

“Rin pushed me off!”

“No, I didn’t!”

“Samael how do you think we should solve this?”

Mephisto soon did too appear on the other side of Rin.

Mephisto replied by shoving Rin over the railing, watching with a bored glee as Rin fell into the water. Rin was not overly pleased with the result.

“Well, that is certainly one way to solve it,”

“He didn’t care to give me affection so I don’t care to be careful,” Mephisto growled glaring at Rin who surfaced next to Amaimon.

“I was excited to get out of the room can you blame me?”

“Yes,” 

“Well someone is cranky,” Rin murmured to Amaimon.

“I am still mad at you,” Amaimon snarled, backing away from the Siren.

“Let me make it up to you,” Rin purred, planting a small kiss on Amaimon’s cheek.

The reaction broke Mephisto…

~~~~  
Rin was locked in his room after he spent an hour separating Mephisto and Amaimon. He really was a troublemaker, Lucifer was partially thankful that Mpehisot had gotten Rin.

Then again Rin was a fun creature, a perfect blend of innocence and cruelty. He would jerk you to near insanity then make it up with the soft bat of his eyes lashed and a tiny smile. A gentle kiss from him could heal any wound he could cause. 

Making the torment only sweeter. Each pain, each tug at your heart would be banged sweetly by the gentle hands of the Siren, and he could lull you into a peaceful rest. Yet the same voice and hands could empty your chest cavity, emptying all nutrients and life from a lively form.

A perfect creature for murder and the perfect caretaker. He really was something.

Mephisto sat on the bed, glaring at the siren he was going to have as his mate… 

Rin did dare utter a word, he could feel the anger and disappointment radiate from the elder Siren. Mephisto wouldn’t hurt him, but still, he was not happy.

“Rin, come here,” 

Rin flinched at the words as his head snapped to the elder siren, his eyes full of curiosity with a twinge of fear.

“I need you,”

Rin shuffled over to the bed and crawled onto the mattress softly.

Mephisto slowly wrapped the younger siren in an embrace. The two pressed against each other, bathing the warmth the action caused. It was so simple but yet magical, Rin felt so close to Mephisto at the moment, it was just them.

That was all that mattered, the two of them, cuddled up in an embrace. Warmth, passion, jealousy, desire, did it even matter what it was called? It felt good and that's all that mattered at the moment.

Rin began to purr as he got lost in the cuddly warmth. Purring like this was a new sensation he hadn’t comprehended but it felt oddly natural and comforting. 

“Just when I think you can't get any cuter,” Mephisto whined, melting further into the Siren.

“I am not doing this on purpose,” Rin squeaked in embarrassment.

“I know, that's what makes it so cute. Now I wonder how I can get you to moan~”

At the command, Samael was met with the cold, unwelcoming surface of the floor.

“Jerk,” Rin scoffed, cuddling into the bed and building a small nest of protection to sleep in.

“Rinnn that was mean!”

“I don’t care,”

“Then why are you blushing?”

“Shut up,” Rin snapped, as a whiny tone took over his voice.

“How adorable,”

“Dick head,”

“Now Rin that is not nice either!”

Rin ignored his mate as he began to let his mind drift, snuggled against the pale sheets all perry seemed to wash away. 

Samael let his claws slip out as he dragged himself on the shared bed. “Why do you keep pushing me away?”

“Why do you continue to be annoying?” Rin huffed keeping his back turned to the “dearly beloved” mate.

“So cruel,”

“So annoying,”

They once again settled in against the fabric as they let their minds peacefully drift asleep…


	9. Fangs for revenge

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> oh boy, wow I am tired. (I finished this ch at 9 pm) So yeah, there may be more mistakes than normal but eh. Yeah, so that's a thing. ummmm yeah, so one chapter left to write. Hope you have enjoyed the series thus far.

The two were stirred by a rustling outside, the loud clamorous of shouts, and then the quick silence that followed. 

“What’s going on?” Rin clung to Mephisto’s torso, fear shaking through his very core. 

Mephisto gazed out the small window represent in the room and nodded softly to himself. “We are approaching the hunter’s gathering palace, it appears they are about to switch shifts,” Mepihstro hummed softly. “The fun part is about to come,”

“I don’t think it will be much fun for them,” Rin soothed, stepping out of bed.

“Who cares if it's fun for them? They had their fun in selling off thousands of innocent lives to a fate none should ever be subjected to. Now it’s our turn to bathe in the glee of their misery as karmic justice determines their fate,” Mephisto crawled out of bed and slid onto the floor, looking almost like an eldritch beast that lingered in the sea years prior to the very birth of society.

“Weirdo,” Rin, as always was unaffected by the offsetting nature of Mephisto, he had long since gotten used to the odd habits ten years prior when he was under his care for two years. “Are we going to get revenge or not?”

“Yeah just give me a moment,”

“Aight bye~,” Rin said happily leaving the room.

Mephisto was quick to follow after his mate, nearly tripping over his own cape in the process.

“Did you just trip?” Rin sneered, mocking the normally elegant being.

“No, I didn’t trip, now what were you saying about that revenge?”

“We need to make it to the main deck first,” 

“Indeed we do,” Mephisto sighed. 

Mephisto sauntered over to the exit with Rin following closely behind him. 

The top deck was covered with a cloud of fog. The grey and white mist acted like a blanket, providing a sense of security, yet on the other hand, it covered all line of sight. 

By the faint glow of the hunter ships they were able to pinpoint where each ship was, and yet they reminded hidden. All lights had diminished, there was no other indication that they were even approaching the ship. 

Each ship in the fleet was stalking closer to the hunter’s ship with little to no noise no light, they weren’t even going to warn the ships before attacking.

It was rather barbaric, but then Karma is never kind is it. How many nests had the hunters destroyed in the middle of the night? How many mothers, children, families slept peacefully without knowing in a few seconds their entire life would be broken. How many lives had the hunters ruined?

Barbic maybe, but it was deserved. Besides, why would they lend mercy to those who demonized them for decades? They destroyed societies and homes, calling themselves victors and heroes. 

Today, was the day, the final call. Judgment day would not be kind to those who sinned so heavily, and what greater sin is there than genocide? 

Second after second, moment after moment, they were crawling closer and closer.

Tension was thick in the air, and Rin felt an air of doubt cloud through his mind. 

Surely not all the hunters were bad?

Demonizing them as they had demonized Sirens was fiar, but it didn’t respend every hunter. 

What are they were doing this job because they were simply desperate?

What if they had families?

Children?

Friends?

Why was it fair to take their lives, when not everyone on the ship killed?

It simply wasn’t fair.

They shouldn’t be doing this, it wasn’t fair, not everyone on the ships was bad.

Not all of them deserved death!

If they went through this were they any better than the hunters?

“Rin are you alright?” Mephisto murmured softly.

“How is this fair? We don’t know if everyone on those ships is bad!” Rin squeaked softly in response.

Mephisto growled at the words. “Yes, they do,”

“How so? Not everyone took a life!”

“But they didn’t do anything when lives were taken, they stood by and poured hours of support into the abuse, torture, and murder of innocent mers and Sirens alike. They chose to be on those ships, they chose to take those jobs. And even if they were forced, they did nothing to stop what was happening. That enough is punishable,” Mephisto snapped, his voice quivered as he forced down his volume.

The captain looked close to snapping from the anger…

“It seems you forgot about the day you were captured by the ship. Surely you haven’t forgotten Tsukumo?”

Tsukumo, the poor girl was shattered by her experience, it had been five years….

She was so young, she must have been terrified at the sight of the hunters… Not to mention the knives; the screaming, the weeping, the fear, the dread.

It was hell… it was hell for everyone.

The scent of blood, the burning pain in his fin, the way the words cut through him. The cold unforgiving floor against his abused tail… The way they gripped him so harshly and then threw him around. He was treated worse than an object or cattle. He was nothing to them, he felt like nothing. Just a thing.

No.

Not even a thing.

Objects got treated better than that.

He was treated as a prison of the worst crime, the crime?

Being alive.

A cruel punishment for something none one can control.   
It wasn’t fair, it wasn’t kind, it wasn’t generous.

It was monstrous.

To hell with doubt!

To hell with them all!

To hell with their lives, and families as well.

“I see your point,” Rin clenched the railing as crimson covered his vision. “I do wonder how long it will take for them to realized they are doomed,”

The sadistic thought sent quivers of pleasure through Samael. Rin had a murderous look in his eyes, he seemed to crave the blood and screams of the hunters that laid before them like a freshly laid out buffet. 

Lucifer approached the mates with glee written across his face. It was a new look for him, odd at first but somewhat understood.

Who wouldn’t be happy?

Both Lucifer and Samael had been playing a game of cat and mouse with the hunters for years, and now they finally had them by their tail… it was now time to feed on the torso they had been pursuing so long.

The fog cleared right before they touched onto the hunter’s ships.

The drowsy guards were startled by the sight and began to shout in fury as they stumbled across the top deck, alerting everyone including the sleeping crew of their ships of the approaching fleets.

Dozens if not hundreds of Sirens and Mers all with glowing hatred and delight in their eyes as they gazed at the ships. 

That was simply excluding the water forces they had, though the adults were currently in a scuffle with the sleeping Sirens that rested at the bottom of the sea.

None were overly worried about the water forces, the once black sea now thrashed as crimson spilled throughout the liquid habitat. 

Rin could feel the rush of adrenaline as he stepped onto the hunter’s ship. 

He was quickly accompanied by an entourage, they all brandished weapons, but Rin merely had his bloodlust. 

Though that was enough to fuel him onward.

His first prey ran directly at him, brandishing a broken pole. 

Rin simply stepped aside as the prey ran by him. 

In a snap, he caught the human’s throat in his jaws.

The faint taste of iron as the warm liquid slid across the tongue was more than delightful.

Rin clamped down and tugged at the neck, snapping all bones, nerves, and tearing at the flesh within.

The thing let out a broken gasp as it felt all life slip away.

Rin dropped the bundle of flesh from his lips and arms.

It hit the floor with a bloody snap and Rin couldn't help but smile at the exposed neck.

The second item of prey was shakily taking a stand as it approached the Siren, fear was dripping off the thing.

“Coward,”

Rin didn’t even need to fight the thing. 

Rin dove his hand into the prey’s chest cavity and grabbed the beating organ that provided life.

The thing was sobbing, like a little child.

It was crying.

He was crying.

This human was crying.

Sobbing as Rin held his heart, this wasn’t a thing.

Rin was going to kill a crying person, he didn’t even provoke him.

“Why?” Rin growled angrily still clutching the heart that laid in the human’s rib cage.  
Confusion sparked in the human’s eyes gazed upon the predator. His lip quivered as he responded. “I didn’t want to hurt the kids,”

“You should have done something to stop this,” Rin’s claws pulse against the heart, getting a recuperated yelp from the human.

“I said the kids, you adults are monsters,” 

Rin tore the heart free from the rib cage.

The body fell limp against his chest.

“I used to be happy, I used to be a child. Then you hunters ruined me,” Rin spat throwing the body down to the ground. “Now all of you will bleed for it,”

The third prey charged at him alongside the fourth and the fifth.

Rin didn’t even get to marvel in the taste of the flesh, nor did he get to feel the buzz of the blood.

He had to slash all their throats in order to quickly move on through the ship, if he wanted to make them all bleed he would have to do so quickly.

After six he lost count.

He could just count the bodies later.

Then again did it even matter.

The Monsters were dead!

All he remembered was the burst of ecstasy he felt each time a drop of blood landed in his mouth.

Cries of anguish, tears of regret, and calls of furry. 

Nothing would stop him.

Nothing could stop him.

Nothing.

No “Nothing” would get in his way and survive.

“Rin it looks like you have made quite the lovely little mess,” the voice sounded family, familiar and soothing.

“Are you still hungry,” Mephisto cooed, wrapping his arms around Rin.

Rin let out an exhale as he felt his mate nuzzle into him.

“I'll let you eat their leader,” Mephisto purred into Rick's ear.

Rin’s eyes filled with delight as he looked at Samael, “show me the way,”

Mephisto whisked him onto the largest ship in the fleet of the hunters.

A single room was lit as a Sirens on all sides, preventing any escape.

“I see you brought Rin,” Lucifer cooed, admiring the blood arranged all around Rin.

If the siren wanted to keep his counterpart's sane he would have to bathe after this whole ordeal was over.

“Indeed I have, now shall we begin?” Mephisto nodded proudly at the sight of Rin, he was truly an amazing creature.

The three entered the room only to find what appeared to be two men tied down to chairs, with one of the men with a knife at his throat courtesy of a black-haired male.

“Outstanding work Yukio,” Mephisto soothed approaching the “Yukio”

“Well, I would say I am disappointed in you Arthur. But, I knew you were behind this,” Lucifer tsked approaching Arthur who was under Yukiuo’s knife.

“I wasn’t the one who started it, you can credit that to Mephisto’s spawn!” Arthur snarled. 

“It doesn't really matter are going to feed both of you to our new king,” Lucifer sighed.

“Oh, so you found a replacement? What makes you think he won’t be easy to kill?” Arthur scoffed.

“Because we are going to keep our eye on him, besides he is far more different than his father,” Mephisto purred, rubbing against Rin.

“That is your new king?”

“You are going to die why do you even care?” Yukio scoffed. “I would kill you right here,”  
“You stupid humans what makes you think you can kill me?” Arthur spat

“Last time I checked no one can survive their head being cut off.” Yukio pocked the knife closer to the throat of the bonded man.

“Now, Yukio I think we can take him from here,” Mephisto cooed, sliding between Yukio and Arthur.

The rest of the night went quickly, Rin was drifting away the entire time, his mind just blurred and his thoughts scattered as his steps faltered.

What happened to all the energy from before? Mephisto stood diligently by his side, giving the necessary support for his mate.

Rin’s mind sparkled and shot up to full capacity when he felt the embrace of icy cold waters, this was far more petrifying than the soft chill of the winter waters in the early morning. This felt like ice against his scales and exposed back.

He despised it, but regardless he stayed... why?

Snip it’s of the conversation flashed across his mind.

“Eat,”

“Leader of the hunters,”

“They need to be disposed of,”

“It’s a crowning of sorts,”

Rin had just nodded the entire time, without fully comprehending the words that were spoken.

At this moment he truly did wish he listened, the context for this would be great. 

Then he saw it, Arthur and Abel were tied to what appeared to be a metal platform with a pole sticking up in the center. Their hands were bound behind their backs and the bondage clung to the pole, the two were back to back as the platform was slowly lowered into the water.

Rin’s eyes sparkled with glee as he smelt the overwhelming scent of blood.

The crimson originated from a rather deep locking gash across both their arms, and it flowed down in a small river, across their biceps and twisted it’s way to the fingertips of the tied victims. 

Rin wasted no time bounding over to his prey. Rin’s eyes locked on to their faces, one seemed to constrict with desperation and regret the other held no emotion.

The metal scraped the top surface of the water when Rin attacked biting cleanly through the smaller leg. 

It took no effort to tear it free from the body, it was surprising but disappointing.

Rin at least expected a crack from the bone.

Oh well, he would go for the arms next, but what fun was there in a quick kill?

Rin latched onto the elder Siren’s arm and tore the unmarked limb free from the socket, watching with glee as tendons and muscles tore and snapped as he tugged and clawed through it.

For a second Rin could view the cartilage in the joins before the arm fell loose and snapped off.

Rin left this limb in the water as well, he would snack on them later, he wanted to rip the flesh from them while it was still warm.

Circling the tied men, he got a growl out of Abel.

Abel in his show of disdain foolishly showed his fangs.

The two elongated fixtures of enamel would make good carving tools, or just decorative pieces on a necklace, possibly a bracelet.

Rin dug his claws into the malleable surface of Abel’s stomach and climbed his way up to his mouth.

Rin grabbed a hold of Abel’s jaw and with his other claws, he tugged on the first fangs pulling it loose with a quick snap.

Acrimony laced Abel’s tone as he growled at Rin.

“Calm down drama king,” RIn huffed switching which hand he held the fang and moved over his hand to rip out the next fang.

Out of the corner of his dark green eyes, he could see his own fang pressed against his cheek. 

It finally set in, he was really going to die like this. 

As a sacrifice?  
He could only close his eyes and think back to a time where he was seen as more than just a traitor, the days where Cain would look at him with a sparkle in his eyes…

His dear brother died innocently as he lived.  
The one regret Abel had was getting caught the day he did away with the old king.  
He was caught by none other than his dear brother, he had to kill Cain and consume the body.  
He still hated the way his brother’s blood had tasted, it was laced with regret.   
Abel desired to retch it all out as soon as he took his first bite.

“Just kill them already,” Mephisto shouted, getting bored. 

“Shudaup!” RIn hissed diving back into the water.

“I thought you wanted a show?” Lucifer pondered looking over to Mephisto. “If you wanted them dead quickly then we could have just shot them,”

“I want to hear them scream, but they aren’t making any noise, this is boring,”

“Stop compiling, I just need to steal his fangs then you can drop them and feed them to the rest of the gathering,” Rin scoffed approaching Arthur.

“You are going to share?” Mephisto purred in curiosity.

“Their actions didn’t just damage me, besides there is only so much I can do to hurt them,” Rin hummed yanking out the smaller fangs that belonged to Arthur.

Once he collected the flash he backed away from the two and climbed back onto the ship adapting to his human form as he stood next to Mephisto.

“Lower it,” Lucifer ordered sharply.

The platform dipped into the water and once the two were ankle-deep Sirens from all around began to gnaw at them. 

The water grew white and foam appeared as tail bashed against the water as more sirens conjugated to all get a taste of the flesh.

Rin felt satisfied in himself, he got what he wanted.

Two lives for one life and the safety of one young girl.

And the fangs for himself.


	10. Ending

Rin stood nervously in front of the mirror adjusting his tie for the third time in a row. How stressful could one human ball be? It was his first time attending any party of sorts on land, let alone with human Royalty.

“Your highness are you alright?” Belail asked, walking over to Rin.

“No, I think I may have to change, this stupid tie won’t behave,” Rin growled, continuing to wrestle with the fabric. 

“I hope I am not speaking out of term your highness but, you shouldn’t be wearing a tie with your ensemble,”

“Oh… that makes sense. Thank you, Belial” Rin sighed, removing the silky fabric from his neck. 

“Of course, now for your crown,” Belail hummed walking over to the encased jewelry.

“Can I just not wear it, it is going to fall off!” Rin whined sneering as he looked at the metal ring.

“Trust me my lord this won’t fall off. It is enchanted to stay on until you take it off,”

“Well, that still doesn’t make it comfortable!” Rin huffed.

“All the other royalty will be with their crows my lord, it is only proper that you wear yours,”

“I know it’s improper but I don’t care,”

“Rin behave,” Mephisto purred walking into the room, “besides we made some adjustments to your crown so it’s more comfortable out of the water,”

“But still it’s so heavy out of water, and it feels weird!” Rin’s face grew pouty as he glared at Mephisto.

“Rin I have to wear my crown just like you do. Trust me once we get to the fun parts of the evening you will forget all about it,” Mephisto stood next to his mate and gazed lovingly at the mirror.

Rin truly looked like the perfect king, kind but strong. 

“Well your highness, I do believe it is approaching time for the banquet to begin,” Belail added brandishing Rin’s crown.

It was mainly built of silvery metal with black and gold trim, with a few varieties of blue gems scattered around the base of the crown. A beautiful crown by all means of the words, but Rin knowing his carelessness along with the weighted feeling of the crown despised wearing it.

Mephisto took the crown from his butler and placed it upon his mate’s fluffy hair. Oddly enough it was not over heavy this time around.

“See as I said, not overly heavy. Now are you ready to greet our guests?” Mephisto wrapped his arms around the slim waist Rin had grown. 

“Of course dear,” RIn purred, leaning into Mephisto.

The royal couple walked side by side, they even sat together at the banquet and stayed by each other through the entire discussion over the peace between all of Mer, Siren, and Humankind. It was in everyone’s best interest to keep their alliance.

Then came time for the dancing.

As the king of all Siren kind, it was only proper for Rin to show his interest in keeping the alliances, so he would dance with one of the human kings and the Mer king. The only problem was, Rin was not a good dancer, he was quite the fish of water when it came to walking long distances, especially in such comfortable shoes.

But dancing was a new language that he had no roots or base for.

Mephisto had tried to teach him, but dancing took muscle memory and no quick simple lessons would ever get him caught up.

Yukio was this year's lucky Human, Rin was more than relieved to hear it. The brother he never knew he had was a smart and brave human, well half-human. But nonetheless, Rin knew Yukio would be forgiving. As for the Mer king, well he had decided it would be a good act to have his son represent the kingdom in a dance. The meek Mer looked no older than 19 and was shy beyond all belief. Kind but meek, thankfully Rin wasn’t going to be the most clueless on dancing with the Mer. 

The Mer had been spending the past day practicing walking, he would be the least experienced dancer on the floor.

Then he would have the privilege of dancing with his mate, knowing Mephisto however it would be less about dancing then and more about getting to be as provocative as he pleased without being caught. 

“Well, Rin are you ready?” Mephisto escorted the king to the dance floor, arms intertwined as they approached the Chosen human king.

“Nice to see you again Rin,” Yukio said, with a polite smile.

Mephisto removed his arms around Rin and left the dance floor.

Yukio took Mephisto’s spot and Moved his hands to their place, Rin mirrored his actions taking the passive position and he placed his hand on Yukio’s shoulder. The music slowly crept into the room, Yukio took the first step. Rin repeated the action stepping back and then following Yukio’s other foot as it slid back. 

Soon the two got in the rhythm of it, circling back and forth with an occasional twirl. 

“So how has it been being king?” Yukio asked, sparking a conversation with his brother.

“Oh good! There are challenges of course but for the most part, is fun. It feels good knowing my species doesn't have to live in fear,” Rin took his attention off his feet and on to Yukio. “How has ruling your dad's kingdom been?”

“It has been good. This may be too personal but what was Mom like?,” Yukio muttered softly, spinning Rin once more.

“She was so kind and caring. She looked out for me every single day and did all she could do to keep me safe. I should have been kinder to her,” Rin smiled trying to hide his guilt, but it showed through. How could it not?

“I am sure she understands, I wasn’t the nicest to Shiro either,” Yukio laughed softly.

“Oh yeah, about that. Is he living?” Rin took hold of the conversation, switching topics before his mind faded to a darker time.

“I am afraid not. When I was sixteen the hunters had found us once again and killed him. That's when I joined their Amata and because of my blood connection to a Mer I was able to rise high in the ranks,” Yukio spun Rin once again.

“I see… Well, I wish I could have met him,”

“As I with our mother. He always spoke highly of her and wished to see you,” 

“In a way. I guess they are with us. They both helped us grow into the being we are today,”

“I suppose you are right Rin,”

The music faded out the two stopped their dance, soon Mephisto approached the two accompanied by the Mer prince and king. The poor little prince clung to the king as he stood on shaky legs. Rin wouldn’t have been much better if not for his years of adapting to legs.

The prince was able to walk over to Rin before he stumbled and clung to Rin for support. Rin was more than happy to provide support for the small prince, he would be quiet the hypocrite if he expected the prince to be better on land. 

Rin himself was a fish out of the water so he could sympathize with the fragile being. 

“S-so H-how are-e you?” The Mer was shaking as he spoke, the poor thing was terrified.

“Good, you know we don’t have to dance if you don’t want to,” Rin giggled, as the Mer quivered in his arms.

“Can we just stand here?”

“Well standing in the middle of the dance floor is dangerous…. But I can go get us some water,” 

“S-sounds good,”

In a quick motion, Run swooped the prince into his arms and carried him to the water. The action got a few giggles from the crowd as well as a glare from Mephisto, he hated sharing Rin as it was. 

But for the mer to be carried by Rin and so publicly was infuriating. Jealousy burned through him as he saw Rin being so found with the prince. The delicate hold of the mer was something new to the sights of Mephisto.

He had always imagined Rin to be the one being carried… possibly one day he could get Rin to carry him as he carried the prince. So delicately and carefully, yet so securely. 

Mephisto wanted many things at that moment. More specifically he wanted his mate back. But interfering with the price's time with the king may prove to cause problems in the eyes of the alliance, so for the time being he would let this be. 

“Why so nervous prince? I won’t drop you,” Rin teased, fangs pricking as he smiled.

“I mean no offense by my words, but you are really the first Siren I have met and been so close to. You are the strongest siren of them all so this is a bit overwhelming,” 

“I understand, but then again think about how nervous some of the humans here maybe. Especially if they have never seen a Mer before. I think everyone’s a bit overwhelmed and nervous,”

“You are very nice,” The prince said, a small blush appearing across his face. 

“I have no reason not to be your highness,”

The small statement was accompanied by a small wink as Rin set the prince down.

The rest of their time together went smoothly as they both refreshed themselves.

“My dear I think it’s my turn with you now,” Mephisto hummed cuddling into Rin.

“Well someone sure seems desperate,”

“More attention deprived if anything,”

“Well let me escort the prince back to his father then we can dance,”

“I don’t mean to interrupt your highness but I think I may be able to handle returning to my father on my own. Besides, your mate seems to be getting a bit cranky,” The prince asked with a small smile.

“See Rin, he agrees with me,” Mehisto chirped happily.

“Fine, I will dance with you,” Rin purred, taking Mephisto’s hand in his own. “But only if you be responsive and don’t perv put on me,”

“Me? I would never,”

“Sure,” Rin scoffed, dragging Mephisto on to the dance floor.

Mephisto had no problem in taking the lead as he grabbed a hold of Rin’s waist, not heeding the warning he was given. He took the chance to poke and prod at the small Siren, all with an innocent smile on his face. The pure audacity of him made Rin want to rip the lips off the king but he knew he would get his chance for revenge soon enough.

“So I have been meaning to ask, where is Lucifer?” Rin purred as Mephisto drew small circles with his claws into the fabric of Rin’s coat.

“I haven't been keeping track of him or his motions tonight. So why are you so interested in Lucifer’s location?” Mephisto’s eyes seemed to spark with interest as he waited for Rin to reply.

“Well, I thought I may as well take him up on his offer. After all, you have had me for the past three mating seasons so it is only fair that I experiment,”

“No,”

“Who are you to tell me no. It’s my decision,” Rin tried desperately to hide the cruel delight he was getting from this reaction.

“You are my mate and I am not going to let you run off with someone else,”

“I’m not saying we would end our courtship. Just invite him for a mating season. Unless you are afraid he’ll top you,”

Rin could tell the second things snapped within Mephisto, his eyes glowed in fruity as his claws priced the fabric and threatened his skin.

“You are so sensitive,” Rin laughed, unable to hold back his delight.

“You savage little-,”

“You are not any better,” 

Mephisto relaxed as RIn’s cruel smirk shone proudly.

“You are right I am worse,” Mephisto cooed leaning his head on Rin’s shoulder, and sliding his hand up his shirt.

“Pervert,” Rin huffed, sending a few bolts of electricity through the hands making them flinch back from his skin. Mephisto removed his hands from under the shirt and draped them around Rin’s waist. 

“Well what else I am supposed to do? I am bored,”

**Author's Note:**

> this will be a slow burn, so that's fun


End file.
